Liverpool
Premier League • England
Liverpool ready to seal astonishing double January deal as unwanted star is cleared to leave
Liverpool manager Arne Slot is reportedly pushing the Reds to secure two major January transfers he believes could help secure the Premier League title glory – but the writing appears to be on the wall for Wataru Endo amid claims he has been told he can leave Anfield in the winter window and ‘does not have his manager’s trust’.
Slot has made a mockery of claims that Liverpool could suffer in the immediate aftermath of Jurgen Klopp’s departure after close to nine years at the helm at the end of last season, with his Anfield successor winning eight of their first nine games in all competitions. That currently has Liverpool sat top of the Premier League table, 100% in the Champions League and having scored 22 goals so far, having conceded just four.
Having only been beaten so far by Nottingham Forest, hopes are beginning to burn bright that the Reds can get their hands on at least one piece of silverware this season, and while they are currently sat top of the EPL, Slot will hope to keep building that momentum and in a bid to dethrone Manchester City as four-time reigning champions.
Now according to Givemesport, Slot is urging the club’s owners FSG and sporting director Richard Hughes to help maximise their chances by bringing in two top-class signings in the January window.
Per their report, Slot wants to strengthen his central defence as an urgent priority and is targeting BOTH Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi as potential options.
Both players are rated in the £75m bracket, meaning the combined signing of the pair would set the Reds back a minimum of £150m (€178.3m, $197m).
At the same time, Slot is also reportedly open to strengthening his midfield and has also reportedly drawn up a list of possible targets to add cover and competition in his engine room.
One man destined to leave, however, is Endo, with the report claiming the Japan star will be allowed to leave in January, having not earned his manager’s trust.
What are Liverpool’s chances of signing Guehi and Branthwaite?
Sources have previously confirmed to TEAMtalk that Guehi is indeed on Slot’s list of defensive targets as he looks to find a long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk.
And while our transfer correspondent Rudy Galetti revealed four names were under consideration, it has since emerged that Slot has been totally convinced of the 19-cap England international’s qualities following in-depth analysis and analytics presented before him by Hughes.
Furthermore, we also understand that, while Guehi remains happy at Selhurst Park and did not want to rock the boat when Newcastle came calling over the summer – instead letting the situation play out behind the scenes – an offer from Liverpool would represent a very different situation for the 24-year-old and he would find a move to Merseyside difficult to resist.
Branthwaite, on the other hand, would be a very difficult – albeit not impossible – signing to pull off.
Everton refused to budge when Manchester United came calling with three offers over the summer and having stuck by their rigid and minimum £75m (€89.1m, $98.4m) asking price.
With new owners The Friedkin Group about to take charge at Goodison Park, they will not want to open their reign by sanctioning the sale of the club’s prized asset – and certainly not to their cross-city rivals.
To that end, TFG will try and instead move to extend the player’s contract.
That said, Branthwaite is ambitious and knows he would likely earn even more by securing a move to one of the Premier League’s big hitters, so keeping him in the long term will likely prove tough. At the very minimum, though, Everton would do all in their power to at least resist all January offers for the towering centre-half.
Real Madrid target Alexander-Arnold alternative / duo send message over Salah
Much of Liverpool’s focus in the here and now is on player retention though and tying the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Mo Salah down to new deals is of paramount importance right now.
The Egyptian star was once again at his best on Wednesday night as Bologna were sunk 2-0 in a somewhat strange game at Anfield. Liverpool opened the scoring through Alexis Mac Allister, having been teed up by Salah before the talismanic forward scored a trademark second to wrap up the win.
That takes his tally to six goals and five assists from nine appearances this season – and both Mac Allister and Alisson Becker sent a pointed message to FSG on the player’s future after the game.
Meanwhile, Liverpool hopes of keeping Alexander-Arnold have been significantly boosted after a report claimed the Reds vice-captain’s chief suitors Real Madrid had identified a £55m alternative from within the Premier League.
As far as incomings are concerned, one player the Reds continue to be linked with is Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni and a report on Wednesday claimed Carlo Ancelotti was ready to sanction the midfielder’s exit to Anfield after a big concern emerged.
One man who almost moved to Liverpool in the summer was Martin Zubimendi and the Real Sociedad star has now spoken openly about that decision to snub the move and having also addressed suggestions he now regrets that rejection.
Wataru Endo has never earned Slot’s trust
Liverpool are now nine games into the new season, but Endo has only featured in a third of them – and in two of those cases, it was very sparingly.
The minutes Endo has been involved in of Liverpool’s games this season so far are 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 82, 0 and 0.
It tallies to 84 minutes of game time across three appearances, a far cry from how much he was involved by the same stage of his debut season this time last year.
He has not been injured during that time, but it was only in the Carabao Cup against West Ham that he got a notable amount of time to show what he could do.
On this same date last year, in contrast, Endo had clocked up 303 minutes of game time for Liverpool already. He arrived after their first game of the season but went on to play a part in seven of their next eight before October began. One of those appearances was a full 90-minute outing (also in the Carabao Cup), by itself more than he has managed to put together since Slot replaced Klopp in the dugout.