Jurgen Klopp will not sign a further contract extension so early into his latest agreement with Liverpool, Christian Falk has confirmed.

The 56-year-old has not planned on committing his future to Anfield beyond the summer of 2026, as things currently stand.

“A reported contract offer in the works for Jurgen Klopp is not a big topic at the moment. It’s not Klopp’s plan – it’s too early for that,” the reputed journalist wrote in his exclusive column with CaughtOffside.

“I don’t think Liverpool have pressured him on this. It was surprising for everyone that Jurgen signed his last contract so early, so I don’t think this will be discussed until he’s closer to the end of his current terms.

“You see what is happening in Germany with the national team… I think this is a big target for his future, so that’s why he won’t sign a new contract so early.”

The German tactician has led the club since the 2015/16 season, guiding the Reds to a Premier League title and a Champions League trophy among a host of other honours.

MORE: Newcastle ‘on the table’ for 16-goal Bundesliga whirlwind with £15m release clause

Still plenty of time for Klopp

There’s a good few years left before Liverpool fans need to start panicking over Klopp’s future in Merseyside.

The big question on many a supporter’s lips in Germany, however, is at which point will the former Dortmund head coach not be able to resist the lure of the national team.

Julian Nagelsmann was recently appointed as Hansi Flick’s successor following a poor World Cup campaign.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the ex-Bayern boss has the credentials to make a success of his time at the helm of Die Mannschaft.

The post Christian Falk: Why Jurgen Klopp won’t sign a new Liverpool contract just yet appeared first on CaughtOffside.

The rise of Newcastle United under the ownership of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the management of Eddie Howe can most notably be seen by the fact that the Magpies are now on a level playing field with any other club regarding transfers.

When European football’s hottest properties become available Newcastle are one of the teams in the conversation, and that’s something unlikely to have been the case even as recently as a couple of years ago.

According to Mais Futebol, the Magpies are now looking at the possibility of paying Goncalo Inacio’s €60m release clause in the upcoming transfer window.

The 22-year-old Sporting centre-back has also been linked to Man United and Liverpool, per The Hard Tackle.

It’s obvious why all three Premier League outfits would be keen to acquire the Portuguese international.

Man United would appear to have question marks over the futures of both Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane, Liverpool wouldn’t be averse to having another high-quality exponent to play alongside Virgil van Dijk and Newcastle’s defensive injury woes are getting worse by the week.

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Sporting aren’t likely to be too enamoured at potentially losing one of their best players, however, if any team meets the release clause, there’s little they can do.

It would then be purely down to the players own wishes as to where he wishes to further his career.

The post Newcastle could head off Liverpool and Man United interest in €60m ace appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Manchester City (1st in the Premier League) take on Liverpool (2nd in the Premier League) on Saturday 25th of November, at the Etihad Stadium, at 12:30 PM (GMT).

The last time these two sides faced, Manchester City beat Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad. Goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish for City, and a goal from Mohamed Salah for Liverpool.

Manchester City drew their last Premier League game, drawing 4-4 with Chelsea in an eight goal thriller. Goals were scored by Erling Haaland (x2), Manuel Akanji and Rodri for City, whilst Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer scored for Chelsea.

Liverpool won their last Premier League game, beating Brentford 3-0 at Anfield. Goals from Mohamed Salah (x2) and Diogo Jota secured the victory and three points for Liverpool.

How to watch Manchester City vs Liverpool

• Date: Saturday, November 25th, 2023
• Kickoff: 12:30 PM (GMT)
• TV Network: Sky Sports
• Venue: Etihad Stadium

Team News:

Manchester City will be without John Stones, Sergio Gomez, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Kevin De Bruyne through injury, whilst Erling Haaland, Nathan Ake and Ederson will undergo further medical checks before determining their fitness ahead of the Liverpool clash.

Liverpool will be without Andrew Robertson, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic, whilst Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Curtis Jones will undergo further fitness testing ahead of the City game on Saturday.

Predicted XI:

Manchester City: Ortega, Gvardiol, Akanji, Dias, Walker, Rodri, Silva, Doku, Alvarez, Foden, Haaland.

Liverpool: Alisson, Tsimikas, van Dijk, Matip, Alexander-Arnold, Mac Allister, Endo, Szoboszlai, Diaz, Nunez, Salah.

The post Manchester City vs Liverpool team news appeared first on CaughtOffside.

This article was originally published on the Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Neil Jones’ exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service at thedailybriefing.io

A look ahead to Manchester City vs Liverpool

There’s no doubt about the game of the week in the Premier League, is there? We’ve become used to watching big clashes between Manchester City and Liverpool, and we’ve got another potential classic to look forward to at the Etihad on Saturday.

I think if you’d have said at the start of the season that, 12 games in, these sides would be separated only by a point, Liverpool would have snapped your hand off. But their progress has been encouraging and City are not yet the force we saw last season.

With that in mind, I believe Liverpool will go into the weekend with belief, although if you offered Jurgen Klopp a draw now I think he’d take it. Away wins in these fixtures have been rare in recent years, even though the sides have often been very closely matched in terms of points and league position.

From a Liverpool perspective, the big decisions surround the defence and the attack. For starters, Klopp has a choice to make at left-back, where Kostas Tsimikas is the incumbent but where Joe Gomez may offer a more stable, defensively-adept option against the roving Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker.

As for the forward line, the question is which two Klopp chooses to start alongside Mo Salah. Both Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez will have had minimal training time due to their international commitments in South America, but those are the more explosive options when compared to Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota. Will Klopp start his European duo and keep Diaz and Nunez in reserve, or will he ask them to get at City from the word go. I’d guess at the latter, personally.

I’d expect Alexis Mac Allister to return in midfield, alongside Dominik Szoboszlai and either Ryan Gravenberch or Curtis Jones, both of whom should be fit. That’s a different kind of Liverpool midfield to the one which has competed with City down the years – more craft than graft, you’d say – and that could be the key to the game. City have shown that they are defensively vulnerable, letting in four at Chelsea last time out, but can Liverpool get enough of the ball to exploit the gaps?

It promises to be intriguing. I’ll be at the Etihad and I can’t wait. I’d be surprised, but not amazed, if Liverpool won, but a score draw certainty wouldn’t shock me, and I reckon the Reds would be delighted if they came away with exactly that.

How close was Jeremy Doku to joining Liverpool?

Liverpool will be up against perhaps the most exciting player in the Premier League this weekend. Jeremy Doku has been sensational since joining Manchester City, and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Co. will have their work cut out trying to stop the Belgian star.

Doku was linked quite regularly to Liverpool during his time at both Anderlecht and Rennes, and I understand he was close to moving to Anfield as a 15-year-old. He has revealed himself that he was shown around the training ground (then Melwood) and that he had conversations with Jurgen Klopp and some senior Reds players, but chose to stay at Anderlecht.

That was Liverpool’s chance, because once Doku was into the first team at Anderlecht, and once he had moved on to Rennes, it was never likely that he would move to Merseyside.

The Reds have consistently targeted attacking players of a similar profile – versatile, aged between 22 and 25, with 150+ senior games under their belt and with a proven output in terms of goals and assists. That’s what they were prepared to pay big money for with the likes of Nunez, Diaz, Gakpo and Jota, and before that Salah and Sadio Mane, and it has brought them plenty of success. They certainly haven’t struggled for talented left-sided forwards in recent years.

A club like City is much more likely to take a big-money punt on someone like Doku. The good news for Pep Guardiola is it looks like the punt is going to pay off, big time. Liverpool won’t regret missing out on him last summer, but they may regret their failure to turn his head back in 2017…

The post EXCL: City star was close to joining Liverpool, wonderkid duo linked with Reds, plus can LFC duo make England squad? appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Chelsea and Arsenal are showing a stronger interest in the potential transfer of Corinthians wonderkid Gabriel Moscardo than Liverpool at the moment, according to Neil Jones.

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column, Jones explained that Liverpool are more likely to target someone a bit more experienced, especially if they’re coming from South American football.

While Moscardo looks a hugely promising young talent, it remains to be seen if he’d be quite ready to make the step up from playing in the Brazilian league to being a first-teamer for one of the top clubs in the Premier League.

Jones suggested that Liverpool’s preference for South American talents is to see how they get on in Europe first, as was the case with signings like Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Roberto Firmino, Alisson and others.

Moscardo looks like he could fit the bill for Chelsea, however, based on their recent policy of signing some of the best young players from all over the world, including a number that have some from Brazil.

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Arsenal, on the other hand, might also want someone a bit more proven given where they are in their project right now, with Mikel Arteta’s side chasing the Premier League title this season and competing in the Champions League again.

Discussing the Moscardo situation, Jones said: “Another young Brazilian linked with a move to Merseyside is Gabriel Moscardo of Corinthians, although my information is that both Chelsea and Arsenal have shown far more interest in the 18-year-old than Liverpool have.

“Liverpool, generally, do not sign first-team players directly from South America. Their tendency in the past has been to wait and see how a talent develops once it has moved to Europe – think of Diaz, Firmino, Fabinho, Nunez, Mac Allister and Alisson as six great examples – before making their move when the player reaches their early-mid 20s.”

The post Exclusive: Chelsea and Arsenal showing “far more interest” in midfielder transfer than Liverpool, says expert appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Liverpool are reportedly putting plans in place to keep hold of manager Jurgen Klopp and key defender Virgil van Dijk, though it seems they anticipate the departure of star forward Mohamed Salah in the near future.

This is according to a report from Football Transfers, who state that the Reds received a huge bid from Al Ittihad for Salah towards the end of the summer, and it seems the prospect of a move to the Saudi Pro League is still looking pretty realistic.

Still, Liverpool perhaps have more cause for optimism over two other key figures in Klopp and their club captain Van Dijk, with some form of plan in place to ensure they keep both of them at Anfield for the long run.

Van Dijk’s current deal runs until 2025, while Klopp recently signed a new deal until 2026, so this doesn’t seem like a particularly urgent matter for the club.

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LFC fans will surely be relieved, though, that there is something prepared to keep hold of two such crucial figures in the club’s recent history, even if there might not be much that can be done to prevent Salah from moving on in the not too distant future.

Salah and Van Dijk have both been among the most important members of Klopp’s squad during his hugely successful Anfield reign, and it seems worthwhile not losing too much of the core of that squad too quickly after the recent departures of the likes of Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho.

The post Liverpool anticipate star name seeking transfer away but have new contract plans for key duo appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Liverpool have been chosen once again for the Premier League’s early Saturday slot following the international break and one Match of the Day pundit has sympathy for Jurgen Klopp. 

The Reds will face title rivals Manchester City in their first league game after the current international period at the Etihad on November 25 and it will once again kick-off at 12.30pm.

This has been a touchy subject for Jurgen Klopp over the years as it does not allow his players, especially those travelling back from South America, to recover properly.

Liverpool have been handed early kick-offs after all four international breaks in 2023, which is very unfair considering other teams constantly avoid being put in this slot.

In the build-up to the huge game, Arsenal legend and Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright voiced his displeasure at the timing of the game for a different reason.

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Speaking about Liverpool and Man City clashing early on Saturday, Wright says he feels sorry for Klopp and would have preferred the match to be played at a later time.

“I feel sorry for Jurgen Klopp,” the former striker said on the Kelly and Wrighty show via the Liverpool Echo. “A game of that magnitude and how good it is, I’d have loved for that to be in the evening.”

The game is a huge one for both sides as it could decide who wins the Premier League come May and the World’s eyes will be on the Etihad next Saturday.

The post Match of the Day pundit has sympathy for Jurgen Klopp following Premier League decision appeared first on CaughtOffside.

It’s not just on the pitch where Man City and Liverpool go head-to-head, but in the transfer market too, as the pair of Premier League giants will both want to secure the best talent available.

Pep Guardiola’s side, being current Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup holders, have obvious cachet for any player, however, the depth of talent that they have within their squad, whilst generally a positive, can work against them.

Players want to play and, invariably, at a club such as City, where there is so much competition for places, a regular starting berth isn’t always possible.

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That’s where Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool could benefit as the Reds could almost guarantee that if a player is doing the business they will play.

There’s still rotation issues of course, as any big club needs to have options, and those are the sorts of decisions players need to factor in when deciding whether to move or not.

It’s a decision that also potentially faces Leroy Sane. According to CaughtOffside columnist, Christian Falk, posting on X (formerly Twitter), the player is being sought by his old club and Liverpool for a transfer in the summer of 2024.

Our Story: Manchester City is like Liverpool interested in a Transfer of Leroy Sané in Summer 2024 @BILD_Sport @alto

— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) November 16, 2023

By then the German will be 28 years of age, and arguably in his prime as a football player.

If he continues showing his current form – nine goals and seven assists in 15 games in all competitions per WhoScored, then whomever ends up with the player will have a real asset within their ranks.

The post Former Man City ace set for sensational return with Liverpool waiting in the wings appeared first on CaughtOffside.

The Premier League is often marketed as the best league in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone wants to play there.

Indeed, for one world-class Bayern Munich star, the sunnier climbs of the Spanish top-flight appears to be more in keeping with his wishes.

All three of Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City are being linked with Alphonso Davies according to 90Min, who also credit Paris Saint-Germain with an interest in the marauding left-back.

At just 23 years of age, the Canadian has a lifetime ahead of him in football terms, though he’s gained significant enough experience already in the Bundesliga to be considered as a veteran of sorts.

That’s perhaps why Real Madrid are, apparently, also keen to secure his services with 90Min saying all three Premier League clubs believe it’s to Los Blancos that Davies will ultimately head.

It’s understandable why he’s so coveted too. Aside from his wealth of experience which is unusual for a player so young, he is brilliant at turning defence into attack at the click of a finger, and is as important to Bayern in an attacking sense as he is defensively.

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For Real Madrid supporters brought up on watching Roberto Carlos or Marcelo raiding down the left side, it’ll be manna from heaven should Davies arrive at the Santiago Bernabeu.

What will be interesting to see is the lengths that the Premier League trio will go to in order to get the player to change his mind.

The post Premier League trio destined for disappointment over world-class Bayern ace appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Liverpool have reportedly shown some interest in the potential transfer of Wolves left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, though a deal is not expected to happen this January.

That’s according to French outlet Le 10 Sport, who are not yet clear on how strong Liverpool’s interest in Ait-Nouri is, with no clear indication yet on whether or not they’ve made contact over the 22-year-old.

Ait-Nouri has impressed during his time at Wolves and looks like he could be a decent long-term replacement for Andrew Robertson at Liverpool, though one imagines this won’t necessarily be seen as an urgent priority for the Reds that soon.

Ait-Nouri looks good enough to move to a bigger club, though, so it seems worth keeping an eye on the Algeria international’s situation in the weeks and months ahead.

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For now, it seems unlikely that Wolves are going to let the player go easily, as per Le 10 Sport, so it might have to wait until next summer anyway, and even then it remains to be seen how much he might cost.

Liverpool had a lot of joy when they signed Diogo Jota from Wolves a few years ago, so it could be that they’ll hope to repeat that here.

The post Liverpool linked as potential transfer suitors for 22-year-old Premier League star appeared first on CaughtOffside.