Merseyside football latest: Liverpool quadruple hopes, Everton January interest and more

National World - LocalTV

Full version of the LiverpoolWorld Q&A with Will Rooney.

Transcript

00:00Liverpool are in the top of the league list for the season. What are your thoughts on

00:03that?

00:04Starting with Liverpool and looking at the business throughout January now, we've discussed

00:07no signings coming in, a lot of high-level links to top players, and they've gone to

00:15other big clubs in Europe. I mean, Liverpool is an amazing destination at the moment if

00:20you are a player looking for a club and a top-level player especially, with what Liverpool's

00:26season could turn into. But do you think they're maybe giving themselves a bit of hard

00:30work to do in the summer, maybe lining up for a big summer under Arnie Schlott? Because

00:35of this January window, what's your take? Can you see any business happening before

00:39the window closes?

00:40Yeah, it's an interesting one because when Liverpool maybe moved in January in the past,

00:46bringing in Diaz and bringing in Cody Gafford, and obviously Virgil van Dijk before, that

00:52took a little bit of pressure off the summer then because the players are in and they're

00:57there for pre-season, you already know the squads. I think ahead of the summer, I'm not

01:05saying it's going to be a massive hole-in-the-hole, but even if Liverpool do go and win the title,

01:09they're still going to have to make changes to the squads. Left-back being warm, a lot

01:16of supporters want a left-back coming now, but Liverpool have got two options there and

01:21they're not going to probably get a third one. In the summer, they're going to have

01:25to go and get a new centre-forward because Darwin Nunes, the jury is still very much

01:30out with him after two and a half years at the club, and Diogo Diotta has had his fitness

01:35problems again, so that might be an area they have to address. Centre-back, depending on

01:42what might happen with, say, a Joe Gomez, if he says, right, I need to go out and play

01:46football, and Liverpool might want a left-footed centre-half anyway, so do they have to address

01:55that area in midfield as well? Do they want a back-up for a Ryan Grabenberg? Does Wataru

02:02Endo say, look, I'm 31, 32 now, I want to go out and play football? Potentially, I'm

02:10not saying this will happen because it might not, but there might be four positions there

02:15that Liverpool need to go out and bolster, and that's without maybe having to go and

02:20get a new right-back as well, because we all know what happened with Chantelle's, because

02:23that happens around Arnold, right midfield, Mo Salah, what if Mo Salah leaves? What about

02:29if Virgil van Dijk leaves? So it could be a massive summer for Liverpool, even if those

02:34three players stay, you'd still think that additions are going to be needed. The caveat

02:40to that is that the summer is easier in terms of getting targets in, there's more players

02:46available, less panic buys, prices aren't as inflated, Liverpool often do their business

02:53in the summer like a lot of clubs are out in January, but yeah, if one did come in say

03:00in January, it would take that little bit of pressure off, but at the end of the day,

03:04it's got to be the right player who's going to be able to make an impact really for Liverpool,

03:09and there probably isn't that sort of player out there.

03:13Yeah, and looking at Liverpool's season, obviously we've mentioned the prospects of what it could

03:18turn into, it's been an amazing change around under Arne Schlott, the quality, the stability

03:24as well, they seem like an incredibly tough side to beat, they're moving to the rounds

03:30of the FA Cup, they're moving through them, they've got to turn over that deficit against

03:34Spurs, but obviously it's at home, Spurs are in absolutely dismal form at the moment, so

03:38there's been many injuries throughout their side, and then obviously top of the Champions

03:42League, and we've mentioned it's a bit of a strange one with the Champions League, because

03:46you could face some of the top sides, but they have already overcome Spanish champions,

03:50German champions in this campaign already, I mean, they just seem untouchable, and where

03:54this season could go is quite incredible, up to the bit of dreaming to be done for Liverpool

04:00fans. Is it quadruple realistic? It's something you have to give them credit, you have to

04:07look at and maybe be realistic, but the real focus will clearly go into the Premier League,

04:13and then possibly on top of that, the Champions League would be incredible to win that again

04:18for these fans.

04:19Yeah, I think if you ask fans now, if you can win one trophy, what would it be? It would

04:25probably be the Premier League, Liverpool fans have been starved of success in the league,

04:32and when they did win it in 2020, they couldn't celebrate it properly, because it was Jordan

04:37Covid, so I think if there was one that could be won, it would be the Premier League. Now

04:42I know that the word quadruple is getting whispered a little bit, but I don't think

04:46that supporters are getting greedy, I think that they realise that Liverpool's squad is

04:52in the absolute deepest, they might pick up injuries, and to win four trophies, it's so

04:59difficult, to win a treble is so difficult, look how long it took Manchester City to win

05:06the Champions League alone. As you say, the Champions League could be an absolute lottery,

05:11depending on who they get the guarantee to finish in the top two before they play PSV

05:15Garenhoven, but they could end up playing Man City, or I don't know, Bayern Munich,

05:21anyone, depending on what happens with the play-off rounds and etc. Carabao Cup, as you

05:28say, that game against Spurs, I still think it'll be difficult, maybe Andrzej Postakoglu

05:33if he's still in charge might think, you know what, I'm going to surprise Liverpool,

05:36I'm going to go pragmatic to get to the final here, you know, I've got to win the

05:39Leeds, let's go out and surprise them a little bit, and the FA Cup rounds have been favourable

05:45so far, the first round against Ajax was in a hole, they go to Plymouth who are struggling

05:50in the Championship next, so you would be thinking they'll get into the fifth round,

05:56but I think the Premier League and one of the domestic ones, I think Liverpool supporters

06:02will be happy with, the Champions League is so difficult to win so many top teams,

06:07and I don't think anyone wants to get greedy, because that's when things can take a downfall.

06:15Well, looking at Everton and the latest sort of injury updates now, obviously,

06:20David Moyes coming back in and looking at that striker situation, it's been clear that

06:25goals need to continue to come in this side, and Dominic Cavett-Lewin,

06:29off in the last game, what's the sort of latest you can tell us on that, because it's not

06:34an amazing situation for Everton, they've obviously made that slight gap from the relegation

06:39zone now, but that a striker would be so important to come in and continue scoring goals for them.

06:45Yeah, I mean, Cavett-Lewin, the way he came off for Brighton, it didn't look good in the 13th

06:50minute, and he didn't even attempt to try and carry on, I think he knew he was done, and

06:56I think as soon as he went down, David Moyes said to Beto to go and get ready, which,

07:04and after it, David Moyes, he wasn't optimistic, so you're probably looking at what, maybe a grade

07:11two tear at a minimum, hopefully he might be able to avoid injury, but it leaves Everton with one

07:16fifth striker at the minute in Beto, and he's had a mixed time, to say the least, since he arrived

07:23at Everton, Armando Brugia, haven't been in discussions with Chelsea about ending his loan,

07:28but at the end of the day, it's Chelsea's prerogative, they might be saying we want

07:35his full wages to be covered, to Everton, bite the bullet, but then that comes off, maybe the

07:40budget, in terms of PSR, etc, and Yousef Chimisi, the young striker who suffered an injury in pre-season,

07:49he came back for a bit, and now he's out for a fire shoot, is he ready to lead your line?

07:55It means the priorities have shifted, I think Everton might have been able to get away without

07:58setting a striker in this window, if Calvert-Lewin had stayed fit, wingers, attack on the field has

08:06maybe been the priority, but depending on how long Calvert-Lewin is out for, and I think it will be

08:12a prolonged period, a No. 9 is a necessity, but that marker for a No. 9 is so difficult now,

08:21so volatile, isn't it? We know that West Ham want one, we know that Tottenham want one,

08:29I think Forrest looks like they might be after one, don't they? Arsenal, are they going to make

08:34a move for one? Bournemouth with Evie Nilsson out, there's not a lot of No. 9s out there anymore,

08:41because teams play with only one striker, it's not like there's a wash with centre-forwards

08:46anymore, and if you're a striker, do you want to go to Everton? Now there's probably more appeal

08:52going to Everton under David Moyes than there was Sean Dyche, it's a thankless task leading the line

08:58for Everton under Sean Dyche, but Moyes has got a bit more of an emphasis for strikers playing

09:04between the posts, but it's got to be right for the player. Will they want to make the move to

09:12Everton, where they might be in the relegation battle, or do they go somewhere else? So,

09:17yeah, it's certainly put a spanner into Everton's recruitment, because they were probably looking

09:21at, say, wingers, tackling midfielders, maybe a left-back, if there was any more room in the

09:26budget, but I think the priority now is getting a striker in. I'm looking at Everton's January

09:32window now. We obviously mentioned the takeover and them coming in and nothing was going to happen

09:37overnight. Sean Dyche, before he was sacked, was obviously certain that the players had to come in.

09:44Now David Moyes is so certain as well that reinforcements are needed. Yes, there's that

09:49little gap at the moment from the relegation battle, but things can change so quickly

09:54when you're down there and you're really struggling and you don't want to get to the

09:58position where you are relying on other teams to be misperforming. Why has it been so slow this

10:04month for Everton? I know, obviously, that the takeover has only really just taken place and

10:09just processed. It's not going to happen straight away, as I say, and maybe fans will continue their

10:15frustration towards that and the lack of investment, because, as we pointed out before, they've got the

10:21most loans in the Premier League. They've relied on loanees, for example, for a number of seasons

10:26now as well, and they've got these older players as well. What should their strategy be moving

10:32forward as well on top of that? I think it's been a difficult month. January has already been a slow

10:37month. There hasn't been a lot of movement, has there? Changing managers hasn't helped.

10:45Probably there was a list of titles drawn up for Sean Dyche, maybe to suit his style a bit more.

10:51Frequent groups were seeing talks with him over part ways, and then they had to open talks with

10:58David Moyes. I don't know, how long are you looking at it? A period, maybe five to seven

11:03days, maybe, where probably all transfer talks are on hold. Then David Moyes has come in and he's

11:11been talking to the recruitment team, saying, right, who have we identified? He wanted to have

11:15his say, because when he was there in his first spell, he was very, very involved in

11:21recruitment. If he's going to be playing these players, he wants to have a say. Anyone,

11:26if they're not going to come in and improve the squads, we've seen the likes of Evan Ferguson

11:31linked and Brighton, but obviously he's got a lot of suitors. Keegan Doosby-Hall,

11:37Carney Chukwumenka, the pair to Chelsea, maybe depends on what happens with Brogier,

11:43but they might happen later in the window. They're going to be heavily pursued by other clubs.

11:51So it's about probably waiting and seeing if you can get those deals over the line,

11:55or it'll certainly be an interesting final week for Evan in the transfer window.

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