Jurgen Klopp effectively rolled out the welcome mat to Jude Bellingham as he lavished praise on a player who embellished his glowing reputation with his performances for England at the World Cup.
Klopp laughed off suggestions that he could make a move for the £100m-rated Borussia Dortmund midfielder in January, saying: “I am the wrong person to ask about that.”
But he did not hide his admiration for the 19-year-old.
Liverpool are understood to be Bellingham’s first choice if he leaves Dortmund in the summer.
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Why Lampard leads Moyes, Potter and Marsch in Premier League sack race24 December, 2022Asked if Bellingham’s performances in Qatar have priced him out of a move to Merseyside, Klopp said: “I don’t like to talk about money when you talk about a player like him. Everyone can see he is just exceptional.
“If you mention to someone who has no clue about football or who knows about football and has not watched it for a while, ‘how old do you think Jude Bellingham is?’, I don’t think anyone would get even close to his age.
“They would say 28 or 29 because he plays so mature. He played an exceptional World Cup. Absolutely exceptional. With all the things he has and things he can improve, to describe him I would say the things he can do are difficult to learn, and the things he can improve are easy to learn.
“So, yes, he is a really good player. What can I say? I have thought that already for two or three years since he had his breakthrough at Dortmund.
“Everybody knew already [about his ability] but I have no idea what that means for the money side of it. I really think if we all want to do him a favour then we do not talk too much about money. I mean that from an England point of view. Do not throw any hurdles in his development.”
Arteta forced to dig deep to replace Jesus
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed his Premier League leaders to overcome the challenge of losing Gabriel Jesus to injury.
Jesus needed surgery at the beginning of December after he suffered a knee issue while away on international duty with Brazil at the World Cup.
No time scale has been put on how long the former Manchester City attacker will be sidelined for, but boss Arteta knows the five-goal hitman will be a big miss.
It puts the onus on the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli to try and fill the void when the league campaign resumes on Boxing Day with a home fixture against West Ham.
“Obviously a huge blow with Gabriel Jesus and his injury,” Arteta admitted. “We’ll miss him for a period of time. The season has challenges, that’s a challenge we have to overcome – but if you’re going to be at the top there’s going to be those challenges.
“It’s difficult to put a time frame because it was a significant injury. Knowing him, I prefer not to give any dates. It’s going to take some time. He’s gone through surgery and that tells you the extent of the injury.”
During last weekend’s 2-0 friendly defeat to Juventus, Arteta tried Nketiah through the middle but could be tempted to play Martinelli in the central role against West Ham.
The 21-year-old from Sao Paulo was initially used up front by Unai Emery when he first moved to the club in 2019.
While Arteta has favoured deploying him on the left during his tenure, Jesus’ prolonged absence may give Martinelli an opportunity to stake a claim in a central striker position.
Rodgers promises multiple signings in January
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers is confident of having more success in next month’s transfer window than the Foxes did over the summer.
They were only able to make one signing in the close season due to financial constraints and a number of players left the club.
Asked if there were funds to spend, Rodgers said: “Most definitely, it was a challenging summer but come January we have looked at what we have available and will look to spend wisely.
“We have a couple of areas we would like to improve. There has been work going on behind the scenes.
“It is clear we have lost a number of our full-backs so we will look at the left-back position as an area to improve, and also an out-and-out winger on the right-hand side.
“It is a difficult market but there is always good players you can sign. It is not just about signing players, it is about signing the right one. If the right ones are available.”
Kane backed to get over World Cup penalty miss
Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has decided against talking to Harry Kane about his missed penalty in Qatar but hopes that the forward, alongside his other World Cup players, forget about their experiences there and turn attention back to the present.
The Premier League resumes only eight days after Argentina’s thrilling World Cup final win over France, with Spurs making a short trip to Brentford this lunchtime.
Kane saw his and England’s tournament end in the quarter-final stage after he sent a late spot-kick over the crossbar in a 2-1 defeat to France 16 days ago.
After a 10-day break, the Three Lions captain returned to club duty on Thursday but Spurs coach Conte has chosen not to speak to his top scorer about his World Cup disappointment.
“When I was a player negative situations happened,” the Italian said.
“You know what happened. It’s not so important to find people to tell you, ‘Oh, don’t worry’. We are strong. When you play at this level, you have to be a strong person. You have to try to address negative events in the right way.
“Harry is a strong person. I was a strong person when I was a player. For me it’s better not to speak, not to try and justify. We are talking about an important player and they know the way to respond.”
Conte recalled his own experience of key players missing penalties when reflecting on Kane’s pain.
The Italian was part of his national squad in 1994 when then Juventus team-mate Robert Baggio missed the decisive spot-kick in a shoot-out loss to Brazil in the World Cup final.
He saw Baggio bounce back and is confident that Kane will do the same.
“I have seen important players like Baggio, [Alessandro] Del Piero and now Harry miss important penalties,” Conte said.
“They go to the penalty. Probably they are going to score and there is not one per cent chance to miss but less, but it happened. You have to put it outside of your mind and restart. Harry for us is the most important player. We are talking about a world-class striker and he broke every record to score.
“My expectation is the same, to continue to do it. He’s our striker, he’s an important point of reference for me, for the players, for the staff, for the fans. But he’s ready. He’s ready to start again.”
Haaland could score 800 goals
Kevin De Bruyne believes Manchester City team-mate Erling Haaland could end his career with 800 goals given his astonishing Premier League form.
The Norwegian was on the mark when City returned to action in an impressive 3-2 EFL Cup win over Liverpool on Thursday.
Haaland will be looking to add to his 24 goals so far this season when he returns to the city of his birth, Leeds, with Pep Guardiola’s side on Wednesday.
De Bruyne, who is easily on top of the Premier League assist charts with nine, has played a key role in Haaland’s amazing start.
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De Bruyne was asked to compare Haaland to a number of legendary front men with whom he has played – most notably City record-breaker Sergio Aguero.
“They play in the same position, but some are physical players, some are speed demons and they can all score goals for fun,” he said. “Erling hasn’t because of his age, but they have all scored 300 or 400 goals. Erling is so obsessed with goals he can maybe go beyond that.
“He already has about 200 goals, so he can probably go to 600, 700 or 800 if he stays fit and does the things that he does. I don’t see Erling as different to a lot of people.
“When you talk about professional footballers or professional athletes, I think everybody has that little edge. I don’t think you can become a professional player if you don’t have that something to become the best version you can be.
“He loves scoring goals, so I think that is the most unique thing he has.”
Haaland has hit the net 179 times in 219 career games to date. But in the last three years, in the Bundesliga and Premier League with Dortmund and City, he is now averaging better than a goal a game – with 110 in 108 appearances.
Wolves confirm early business
Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui has revealed Brazilian forward Matheus Cunha, 23, is set to join the club when the transfer window opens next month, initially on loan from Atletico Madrid.
“I think he is a complete forward,” Lopetegui said of Cunha. “He has good condition, good skills, not just technically, but physically because this is England and you have to be able to compete to survive.
“He has this profile to play here for a lot of years. We are going to help him to develop his strengths in the future. When the market opens, Cunha is going to help us.”
Wolves later announced Steve Davis has been appointed as the club’s first pathways manager.
Davis, 57, took temporary charge of the first team for eight games following Bruno Lage’s departure in October, moving from his role with the under-18s.
The new position will see Davis work closely with the senior coaching team within Wolves’ academy as well as sporting director Matt Hobbs, strategic player marketing manager Matt Jackson and the first-team staff.
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