A World Cup for all Africa

8 years ago

Liverpool are hesitating on a £53 million deal to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon due to concerns over an underlying knee issue. The Anfield club have offered no comment on the player’s medical and neither have their French counterparts, but every other aspect of the formalities had been ticked without a hitch by late Thursday […]

8 years ago

Liverpool are in the final stages of attempting to reach an agreement with Lyon for Nabil Fekir and are hopeful of concluding a deal in the region of £60 million by the end of this weekend. The 24-year-old, who can adeptly operate across midfield and in the forward areas, has been Jurgen Klopp’s primary target to […]

8 years ago

Liverpool have completed the signing of defensive midfielder Fabinho from Monaco in deal worth an initial £39.3 million. The Brazilian has inked a five-year contract and had no hesitation in committing to Jurgen Klopp’s vision once the Reds firmed up their long-held interest in the destroyer. An initial enquiry was put in last summer following […]

8 years ago

Monaco’s Fabinho has been identified as Jurgen Klopp’s first-choice target to anchor Liverpool’s midfield and the club are confident of tying up a transfer for €40 million, with a further €5m in potential add-ons. The Anfield side, beaten in Saturday’s Champions League final with Real Madrid lifting their third European Cup on the spin, have […]

8 years ago

In block 48, situated in the upper tier of the North entrance at the NSC Olimpiyskiy, a father pulled his son’s face into his chest, using his shirt as a towel to drain the little boy’s tears He was no older than 10, with Mohamed Salah’s name on his back, inconsolable as Real Madrid paraded […]

8 years ago

Even back then, before she could fully read or write, there was a deep comprehension that this was different; it was special, seismic…  Everything seemed to change: a greater vibrancy coated the atmosphere, there was a sharper dose of anticipation, and for those involved, a whisking in of extra steeliness to complement the euphoria.  “I […]

8 years ago

“And now, we will go to Kiev. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.” The downpours, pelting over Kowloon as though they were bullets from above, had finally subsided. For Liverpool, however, this was the inception of the storm. Before the sun could fully crack through the scattered clouds that Friday morning in Hong Kong last […]

8 years ago

From job centres and hospitals, many red roads lead to Kiev

8 years ago

Reaching the semi-finals is a huge achievement in itself

8 years ago

“Zeljko remains a Liverpool employee and his position at the club is not effected by this absence.” Liverpool have confirmed that Jurgen Klopp’s long-time assistant Zeljko Buvac will not be involved in the first-team environment until the end of the season. The 56-year-old, whose relationship with the Reds boss spans nearly three decades and stretches […]

8 years ago

The anguish is still acute, pushing up from Julian Nagelsmann’s throat to punctuate his words as he recounts a half-year period, aged 20, that tornadoed his life. Having suffered cruciate ligament damage, he sacrificed weeks of sleep while wrestling with the decision to prematurely end his playing career. Then, far more cruelly, his father Erwin […]

8 years ago

There will be an individual, out of view, far from the red-tinged Anfield sky and scarf-swirling ecstasy, who will rewind to a conversation and know that none of this is coincidence. Liverpool, a hurricane of movement and attacking mastery, are 90-odd minutes away from flying to Kyiv for the chance at a sixth European Cup.  […]

8 years ago

The clanking of pots from the kitchen is usurped at the next turn by the voice of manager Claude Puel in the corridor, before Drake’s ‘Nice For What,’ thundering out from the astro-turfed gym, mutes all else. Following an unsparing mid-morning session, Leicester City’s training ground is fizzing: a blur of players, physios, analysts, coaches and […]

8 years ago

After it all, they stood and stared at the bouncing away end, whose voices amplified in an emptying Etihad, whose scarves and spirits were raised. This was a moment they deserved, that they could savour after the success of combining swagger and survival, sweat and surety. In unison, Liverpool’s players and backroom team walked towards […]

8 years ago

They were sitting on walls, standing on roofs, fists in the air, faces spelling out exactly what this all means. They were as far as the eye could see, and louder than imaginable, clothed by red smoke and committed to their cause. The game had started long before the first whistle, there on the stretch […]

8 years ago

As you arrive at the street, which was named after Martin Luther King three weeks after his assassination in 1968, then pass through a small parking lot and move beyond portacabins that serve as offices for the press department and digital media team at the scanty Bruchwegstadion, the question lingers. How did an Eredivisie, FA […]

8 years ago

It is irrepressible; it layers his face, trickles through his hand movements and colours his language. Everything about management – the responsibility, challenges, lessons, possibilities – seems to clothe every inch of Steven Gerrard – and he wears it well. Thirteen months have elapsed since the former captain of Liverpool and England transitioned from a […]

8 years ago

A special type of special

8 years ago

As icy flakes curled in the unforgiving wind and caked Melwood’s exterior, thoughts within the training complex circled back to Roberto Firmino’s proficiency in more punishing conditions while at Hoffenheim. Liverpool had wondered if an export from Maceio, a north-east city in Brazil with postcard-worthy beaches and a tropical monsoon climate, could hurdle glacial weather […]

8 years ago