It has been a week of doom and gloom for Liverpool – there is no sugar-coating that.
You have probably read or heard thousands of words and hours of debate about just what is wrong with Arne Slot’s champions… or maybe you have been hiding away after three straight defeats.
So instead of recapping the week that was with nuggets of information, as we normally do in this Liverpool Confidential column, Lewis Steele, our Reds expert, will answer YOUR questions on the club.
Topics covered include transfers, contracts, formations, Federico Chiesa (remember him?) and everything else in between. So let’s get into it…
How serious are the Antoine Semenyo links?
Liverpool definitely held Semenyo in high regard earlier in the summer.
Sources at the time told Confidential he was one they may pursue but the whispers went quiet and we did not really hear much from that point onwards. There were more murmurings after the first game of the season – at that point Liverpool still needed a forward.
Antoine Semenyo has been in fantastic form this season and was on Liverpool’s radar earlier in the summer
The Bournemouth forward was signed by Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes when he was working for the Cherries
Confidential readers may recall I wrote in May that the word from inside Liverpool’s corridors of power was that they wanted a ‘versatile forward’ who could play across the front three. Hugo Ekitike perhaps ticks that box but Semenyo could be one to watch in the future.
Sporting director Richard Hughes signed him at Bournemouth, of course, having seen his excellent performances at Bristol City. But he has kicked on this season and has become a must-have in your fantasy football teams!
As painful as it is to accept for Liverpool fans, Mohamed Salah will be moving on sooner rather than later. Can Semenyo be a long-term replacement? He is definitely one they have appreciated in the past. But there are other candidates in the mix too…
Will Michael Olise and Adam Wharton be priorities next summer?
Yes, there is a chance. Confidential has reported before how Olise, the Bayern Munich forward, is certainly one to watch for next summer – albeit it is nothing more than that at this stage.
He has gone from strength to strength since his move from Crystal Palace to the Bundesliga giants. The former Reading player was superb at Selhurst Park but lacked consistency, which he has now found in Germany.
The best wide forward at Bayern at the moment, while we are on the topic, is a certain Luis Diaz. How Liverpool have missed him in the last week! Olise could definitely be an option in the summer, though. Watch this space.
As for Wharton, he is another that Liverpool like. Again, though, we are in October and it is nothing more than that just yet with Palace trying to tie him down to a long-term contract and boost his sale price.
The Reds are not the only Premier League club circling. He is a supremely gifted footballer and one thing worth adding on both counts: next summer is a World Cup summer… prices for these stars will only be going one way.
Michael Olise has added consistency to his game since he joined Bayern Munich from Crystal Palace
Palace midfielder Adam Wharton is another player that Liverpool like
Do you agree the manager has been an absolute disgrace this season and should be doing a lot better considering the quality at the club?
Confidential laughed when we first saw this question and then searched for the definition of ‘disgrace’, which is: ‘A loss of reputation or respect as the result of a dishonourable action.’
The only disgraceful thing here is calling Slot a disgrace!
He is one point off the top of the Premier League, still in the Carabao Cup and with six games in the Champions League still to earn qualification (winning seven of eight games last year led to drawing eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, so topping the table is irrelevant).
Yes, there are a multitude of problems for the boss – more so than ever before in his tenure – but he made a habit last season of answering every question thrown his way.
Think about some of the issues Slot faced last year – how would he cope in the shadow of Jurgen Klopp? What happens when Liverpool’s fixtures get harder? Surely they cannot maintain their form for a whole season? How will he get over defeats to PSG and in the Carabao Cup final?
He answered all of those questions. He will do so again. Remember, one point off the top… performances have not been great but calm down, folks. Slot will put it right.
Arne Slot gives his team instructions during Saturday’s match against Chelsea – but to no avail, Liverpool suffered a third consecutive defeat
Liverpool also lost against Galatasaray in the Champions League when Mo Salah started on the bench
What is the Marc Guehi situation? Will it be tough to seal the deal?
Guehi was halfway through a medical with an agreement in place for him to sign for Liverpool when Steve Parish pulled the plug, so it is wrong to say it will be tough to land him next summer. If anything, it will be easy.
From what Confidential understands, Liverpool are still keen on signing Guehi and the only question mark there is whether they do it in January or the summer. It sounds like a winter move is unlikely… but they have played down the possibility of transfers before and they have happened.
Which leads me swiftly on to…
Palace defender Marc Guehi was so close to joining Liverpool on deadline day only for the deal to fall through at the 11th hour
Should Liverpool bring in Guehi or another centre back in January?
Absolutely.
They will still pay less money in January than they would have done if they signed a centre back on deadline day in the summer and, if you think back to last year, Liverpool rejected an approach to let Trent Alexander-Arnold go early.
The club sacrificed money to keep him and help their Premier League title bid. Why not do the same now?
Giovanni Leoni is out for the season (and probably longer), Joe Gomez is injury prone and Ibrahima Konate’s form has been, well, patchy at best. As I said on deadline day, Guehi walks into this XI. Why wait until the summer?
Liverpool’s centre back Joe Gomez has had terrible luck with injuries
Will Federico Chiesa get a League start before Christmas?
Who’s he? Don’t know him.
Only joking. But on a serious note: what on earth does Chiesa need to do to earn the trust of Slot? Or how unfit actually is he that he declined an international call-up from Gennaro Gattuso, the Italy manager, who speaks to him every day?
Chiesa has scored a goal every 63 minutes he has played in the Premier League this season, putting him up there with Erling Haaland and Newcastle new boy Nick Woltemade in that statistic, of players to have played for 60 minutes or more.
He was excellent against Southampton in the Carabao Cup and scored a last-gasp goal at Crystal Palace (though it did not count for much as the Eagles went down the other end to win the game), not to forget his dramatic late intervention against Bournemouth on the opening night.
But he still can’t get near the XI and seems to only be trusted for 10 minutes. It is concerning and curious. Chiesa was apparently injured for the trip to Istanbul last week despite murmurings earlier in the day that his omission was not fitness related. Bizarre.
It is fair to say he did not deserve much more than his miniscule number of minutes last term. This season, though, he absolutely deserves a bigger chance.
Federico Chiesa has impressed off the bench for Liverpool but has been unable to get a start
What’s your opinion on the transfer strategy and the shift from ‘we will prove them wrong’ type players, like Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino, to proven stars like Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak?
Liverpool are behaving like big boys now which is a legacy of last season’s title win.
If Manchester City, for example, had made it five titles in a row then maybe Wirtz would have chosen them. Maybe Isak would not have been so forthcoming in forcing through a move to the Reds. Liverpool suddenly became the most attractive club.
It is an exciting transfer strategy but one that comes with a lot more scrutiny as we are already seeing… one point off the top of the league and people are acting like Liverpool are Manchester United and in mid-table!
Is the Ibrahima Konate contract situation at a standstill?
It is now nine months since Konate did a press conference at Anfield and said he had been offered a new contract. It is a year – the last October international break – since we reported talks had started over a fresh deal.
Yet here we are again, the saga of a Liverpool player out of contract in the summer with Real Madrid looming. It all feels a bit familiar to the Trent Alexander-Arnold issue this time last year and we all know how that ended up.
The answer is that there are no updates at the moment. Liverpool are still keen to renew the Frenchman’s deal but nothing is done yet. Real are lurking in the background but it does not mean Konate is certain to go there.
Ibrahima Konate could be on his way to Real Madrid next summer on a free transfer
When will Slot get a new contract?
It is on the agenda and something his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, is working on.
Fans will recall Jurgen Klopp, who joined 10 years ago this week, was already in negotiations with Mike Gordon by January 2016.
Liverpool want to act quickly here otherwise they risk Slot entering his last contracted season next year. Confidential would be surprised if the head coach has not agreed to a new deal by then.
When we asked him about it back in May, he seemed keen – and did not deny talks had taken place.
Liverpool want to tie Slot down to a new contract as soon as possible and talks are understood to have taken place
Any academy players that could be back-up to Konate and Gomez?
Rhys Williams! Now 24, the defender who played 19 times in the 2021-22 season due to an injury crisis is still at the club and playing regularly for the Under 21s. It comes after loans at Swansea, Blackpool, Aberdeen, Port Vale and Morecambe.
You may also remember Amara Nallo, the teenager who made his first-team debut off the bench at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League but lasted a matter of minutes due to being sent off. He is also injured at the moment, though.
Confidential has been to both UEFA Youth League games and have been impressed with Wellity Lucky and Carter Pinnington – the latter can play across the back line and in midfield. Both are good prospects but it would take a serious injury crisis for them to be called up this year.
Wataru Endo, Ryan Gravenberch and Andy Robertson would be more likely to deputise in central defensive positions if one of the three senior stars got injured. And don’t forget Stefan Bajcetic was once a defender, though Slot sees him as more of a midfielder now.
