A round-up of the latest Liverpool news as one Reds star sees his ‘confidence’ called into question and Paul Merson predicts the outcome of Aston Villa’s visit to Anfield.
Arne Slot makes a ‘strange’ claim about Liverpool’s ongoing player contract talks
Liverpool are locked in talks with Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold about potential new contracts for their soon-to-be free agent stars. Each player will see their current deals expire on June 30 and can start to negotiate with foreign clubs from January 1.
Sporting director Richard Hughes is leading the Reds’ efforts to convince Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold to stay on Merseyside with Arne Slot only Liverpool’s head coach and not the manager. But the Dutchman feels it would be ‘strange’ if he was not involved altogether.
Slot is speaking regularly with Hughes regarding Liverpool’s ongoing talks as they target new contracts for three of the club’s most important players. But the tactician is keen to avoid his say becoming public as Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold should be dealt with in private.
“It would be strange if I had no input!” Slot joked in the Liverpool boss’ press conference on Friday. “Although I’m a head coach now and sometimes that’s convenient to say. ‘I’m a head coach. I’m no longer a manager, so talk about contracts with someone else!’
“No, I think in general, contract situations are talked about by people who should talk about it. I am one of them but I should not talk about this in public. I do talk about this with Richard and that’s the place where we have to talk about it, not in front of a microphone.”
Read more about what Slot has said about Liverpool’s ongoing contract negotiations, here.
Mark Lawrenson questions Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate’s ‘confidence’
Liverpool icon Mark Lawrenson has praised Ibrahima Konate for a ‘really, really’ strong start to the season. But he questions if the centre-half lacks the confidence to reach the absolute peak of Konate’s potential. Lawrenson also feels he would shine playing with Virgil van Dijk.
Konate has been a key cog in Arne Slot’s squad so far this season with 15 appearances from a potential 16 games. The Frenchman has only sat out the Reds’ win over West Ham United in the Carabao Cup so far this term, even after Konate sustained a hand injury last weekend.
Konate initially sustained the injury when he fell awkwardly against Brighton & Hove Albion but confirmed after playing Bayer Leverkusen that the defender is ‘fine’. Lawrenson feared he might sit out multiple months and now wants to see Konate play with more confidence.
“Konate got injured last Saturday. He damaged his shoulder, I think it was,” Lawrenson told talkSPORT (08/11, 08:11). “I was at the game before and you thought, ‘Crikey, he is going to be out for three months, the way he went off’.
“But generally when he has come in and has played now recently, he has done really, really well. I don’t know whether he needs a little bit of more confidence. But he is big [and] he is strong. But I am not being funny, even I could play well alongside Van Dijk.”
Read more about what Lawrenson has had to say about Liverpool defender Konate, here.
Paul Merson predicts the outcome of Liverpool vs Aston Villa in the Premier League
Liverpool host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday night as Arne Slot’s men strive to enter the November international break atop the table. But Villans hero Paul Merson has not predicted the ninth Reds win of the season before Liverpool’s 11th game this campaign.
Instead, Merson backs Aston Villa to hold Liverpool to a draw as Slot’s squad are not playing ‘well enough’ to win. If the Anfield outfit afford the Villans the same sort of chances they let Brighton & Hove Albion fashion last Saturday, he even tips Aston Villa to ‘punish’ Liverpool.
Merson is confident that Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran can take advantage of any mistake at Anfield after watching Liverpool labour to a 2-1 win over Brighton. The Seagulls even scored first on Merseyside but Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah flipped the script after 70 minutes.
“I saw Brighton against Liverpool and they were actually better than Arne Slot’s men for the majority of that game,” Merson told Sportskeeda. “I just don’t think Liverpool are playing well enough to get a win in this game.
“If they give Villa the kind of chances they gave Brighton, the likes of Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins will punish them. Liverpool were really fortunate to come away with a win in the last game, but I doubt they’ll have that kind of luck here.”
Read more about what Merson has predicted ahead of Liverpool vs Aston Villa, here.
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