Liverpool’s and Netherlands’s captain Virgil van Dijk has decided to return to Merseyside before the international break ends after receiving a second yellow card in the match 1-1 draw against Hungary in the Nations League.

The Dutch defender got booked twice after making two fouls against opponents, but the player didn’t agree with the referee’s decision, especially with the first yellow card in which Van Dijk feels that it wasn’t a tough challenge for him to get booked.

After not being available to feature in the next Netherlands game, the 33-year-old has decided not to travel to Germany with his team and return to the Liverpool training center before the tough challenge against Chelsea in 20 October.

Speaking on his first red card with the national team, Virgil van Dijk said that it should have not happened, but he mostly got angry with the first yellow card which the defender feels should have not been shown to the player after the captain’s only one who can talk to the referee.

He continued explaining that his approach to the referee was very calm and respectful, but it was seen differently from the other person’s perspective.

Even the Dutch manager Ronald Koeman agreed with Virgil van Dijk’s words, saying that it was a frustrating moment in which the player should have not been sent out.

With the decision to leave the camp before the matches were over, Van Dijk sent a huge message to his teammates showing support for the next match against Germany. The player said that he will continue to show support for his country but for the moment the right decision will be to rest at his home before the busy fixture that awaits Arne Slot’s boys after the international break.

Another player who will be traveling to Liverpool early is the Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah who is expected to leave Egypt’s camp after scoring against Mauritania in the recent 2-0 win.

Egypt’s squad will travel to Mauritania for the fourth round in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifications, but their main player won’t be available to feature for his country after being reported that the stadium’s pitch is made of artificial turf, which could injure the player.

Mohamed Salah has already asked Egypt’s manager Hossam Hassan to rest for the next match so he could return to Liverpool a week before the start of the real challenge for Arne Slot.

Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo believes he will required as the season progresses and he isn’t the only player to whom Arne Slot will soon turn.

Any Liverpool supporters who feared suffering potential withdrawal symptoms after the summer transfer window closed can’t complain their appetite hasn’t been sated during the subsequent six weeks. The ongoing contract impasse regarding Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk has given plenty on which to chew, while the early months under Arne Slot have already prompted talk of imminent exits from the squad.

The player most widely tipped to be next in line to depart has been Wataru Endo given the manner in which the midfielder has tumbled down the pecking order at Anfield this season.

Having been a regular for much of the final two-thirds of the previous campaign after his surprise arrival from Stuttgart last summer, the Japan international has been limited to a combined total of barely 90 minutes this campaign with just one start in the League Cup.

But when recently asked about his Liverpool future, Endo didn’t seem a player considering an exit any time soon. “A club like Liverpool needs the depth of the squad,” he said. “I have no idea what people are saying about me, but my plan is staying here.”

And while the 31-year-old hasn’t thus far been a beneficiary of the requirement for deep resources, that will soon be about to change. And Slot knows it.

“It’s going to be a long season where you need a lot of players, so if you need a lot of players they also need, once in a while, some playing time,” said the Liverpool head coach earlier last month. “So we are aware of that and that’s also what we take in account when we make a line-up, but it’s not the only thing I take into account.”

Slot has largely resisted rotation in the Premier League so far this season. A change in goalkeeper has been compelled by injury, but there has been only one alteration at centre-back in the opening seven games, none at right-back while the start for Curtis Jones at Crystal Palace last time out was the first time the engine room triumvirate of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai had been broken up.

But the relentless intensity of the English calendar soon became apparent at Selhurst Park for Slot with both Mac Allister and later Alisson Becker picking up muscle problems.

“Maybe this is something the FA should look at, if you play Wednesday evening, why do you have an early kick-off in an away game on Saturday?” said Slot afterwards. “Or should they look at me and I have to rotate all my players? Maybe it’s also bad luck, but it’s not the way we want it.”

Given the difficulty ramps up for Liverpool during the next raft of fixtures, Slot will now have no option but to give more opportunities for fringe players to help them be ready for when they have to start.

And those extra first-team chances are needed. As well as Endo having limited game time this campaign, Conor Bradley has made just one start, Tyler Morton has featured for only eight minutes, Joe Gomez has played even fewer in the Premier League, Jarell Quansah has had one outing since mid-August and Federico Chiesa has had less than 80 minutes of action.

All will be primed to feature in the League Cup fourth round tie at Brighton later this month but with the fixture list relentless after the November international break, they will all surely be required for more than just the occasional run-out sooner rather than later.

Each, such as Endo and third-choice goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros from the bench at Selhurst Park, has shown they can contribute. And if Liverpool are to truly challenge for the major honours this season, those current fringe players will prove crucial.

Injuries have come thick and fast for Arne Slot’s Liverpool side with Caoimhin Kelleher now set to stand in for Alisson Becker.

The Brazil international was forced off the field of play after suffering a hamstring injury during the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately, it means the No.1 will likely be sidelined until after the November international break. Worse yet, there’s a possibility that Alisson’s time in the treatment room could extend beyond the Reds’ next seven games.

At a minimum, it will see the former Roma shotstopper miss meetings with Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton (Carabao Cup and league), Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa.

Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher is ‘in his prime’

A devastating injury blow for Liverpool but an opportunity for backup goalkeeper Kelleher to jump in between the sticks and showcase his talents to the globe once more.

Tony Cascarino certainly feels that it’s a deserved opportunity for the Republic of Ireland international who is ‘in his prime to be a goalkeeper’.

“It’s an opportunity that he deserved to be a number one. What is he now? Mid-20s now. I think he is 25, Kelleher,” the pundit spoke on TalkSPORT.

“He is in his prime to be a goalkeeper. I don’t have any problem in him wanting to be a first-team keeper, it’s whether he can get it at Liverpool. That is a question that only the manager can answer. But he can do himself no harm if he is playing regularly and performs like we know he can.

“I have seen enough of him with Ireland and with Liverpool that he is a very capable goalkeeper. So keep fingers crossed on that one.”

Minutes have otherwise been hard to come by for the former Ringmahon Rangers star, with only two appearances coming in the Premier League and Carabao Cup.

Caoimhin Kelleher deserves to be a No.1 somewhere

With us unable to recall Giorgi Mamardashvili to the squad at any point this season (as our arrangement with Valencia is not a loan), Arne Slot will be forced to rely upon his No.2.

That’s not a devastating reality, of course, given how reliable our No.62 has proven during Alisson’s prior injury-enforced absences.

Caoimhin Kelleher made a total of 26 appearances in the 2023/24 season – likely far more than he anticipated making ahead of the campaign. To his credit, Liverpool won all but seven of those games he deputised in goal (four losses, three draws).

There’s arguably enough evidence from his time at Anfield to suggest the Irishman would make an ideal signing, and first-choice goalkeeper, at several top clubs in Europe.

If his latest spell between the sticks prompts an outfit to meet our financial demands in an upcoming window, we doubt there’d be a single fan who would stand in his way after years of consummate service.

We’d much rather keep hold of Kelleher, of course, as a world-class backup option, if given the choice! But he’s more than deserving of the opportunity to thrive elsewhere.

Here is a roundup of the top Liverpool news and gossip from icfootballnews that we think you guys could have missed today –

Dan Ndoye, who plays his football for Bologna in the Serie A has opened up and claimed that he would be open to the idea of joining Liverpool in the coming windows.

Right now LIVERPOOL are not too worried about signing players – but there has been alot of speculation surrounding the future of star man Mohamed Salah – who is leaving the club at the end of the season.

Salah is in his final year of his contract at Liverpool – but has no intention of agreeing a new contract – meaning that some big names have been mentioned over the past few months as possible replacement for the Egyptian ace.

But now Dan Ndoye, who plays his football for Bologna in the Serie A has opened up and claimed that he would make the move to Liverpool – as quoted by Sky Sports CH.

“I don’t put any barriers on myself! At school, when people told me it was impossible to become a professional footballer, I didn’t listen to anyone.”

“In the end, I’m here today. Really, I’ll never put any barriers on myself. I work to play in my position in a world-class club because I know I have the ability.”

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Ndoye has not really set the Serie A alight in a way that would impress the Liverpool scouts – He had just one goal in 32 appearances in the Italian league last season and is yet to find the net this time around.

It is probably a dream for him that he makes the move to LIVERPOOL – but the Reds will want to sign a player that can score 30 goals a season and that has the ability to win big games.

Salah could be very hard to replace that is for sure.

LIVERPOOL READY TO SIGN UP KONATE – 

As per reliable Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool are “prepared to” agree lucrative terms to extend the contract of Ibrihima Konate over the next few weeks.

At the very beginning of the summer window, LIVERPOOL lost Jurgen Klopp and quickly replaced him with Dutchman Arne Slot, who has a big reputation in the game of football.

That also led to all sorts of speculation and rumours in the media that Slot would be backed by the board and will be able to sign a number of players to help him play the kind of football that he likes, but so far, no signing has been made.

However – the club have not yet been able to agree a new deal with one of their star players as Konate has now agreed a new contract with the club, but that looks like it may all about to change,

As quoted in his Daily Briefing, here is what he said: “He’s happy at Liverpool and Arne Slot is happy with him, so it’s looking positive, and Liverpool are prepared to offer him an important contract with an improved salary, which is obviously something Konate will look on in a positive way.”

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Konate has been a great player for Liverpool over the past few seasons and his partnership with Virgil Van Dijk has been one of the key reasons why the club are so good defensively.

He is a massive part of that Liverpool side, so the news that he will probably agree a new contract at LIVERPOOL is great as he is a player that Arne Slot would struggle to replace in the January window or at the end of the season.

There is some fresh excitement around Anfield right now under the direction of Slot – so the players are more than willing to sign up and see what happens over the next few seasons.

ZUBIMENDI MESSAGE SENT – 

Italian Journalist Fabrizio Romano has opened up and claimed that LIVERPOOL transfer target Martin Zubimendi does not intent to leave Real Sociedad in the January transfer window.

Zubimendi was one of the many players that Liverpool were leavily linked with in the summer window and a player that Arne Slot had high up on the shopping list of players he wanted.

But despite all the speculation and rumours – he stayed put and committed himself to Real – but it has been claimed in recent days that Man City are looking to seal a deal as they seek an immediate replacement for the injured Rodri.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed as much on his YouTube channel, claiming that Man City do want the player – but Zubimendi has no intention of leaving Real in the middle of the season.

“Martin Zubimendi wanted to clarify about his future, because we had links with Manchester City, can he replace Rodri, we know in the summer he said no to Liverpool,” the CaughtOffside columnist said.

“Today (October 9), Zubimendi in a press conference confirmed that he’s not planning to leave Real Sociedad. The intention of the player in January is not to leave Real Sociedad. At the moment, I’m not aware of any direct contact with Manchester City.

“At the moment, the situation is really quiet around Zubimendi.

‘Next summer we will see what happens for Zubimendi, for sure, could be an interesting one. But at the moment, no contacts with Manchester City, no negotiations for Zubimendi, and the player keeps repeating in public how happy he is at Real Sociedad and how he’s not planning for a switch or change in the January transfer window.”

The Premier League title may have eluded Steven Gerrard during his playing career, but the former Liverpool captain is held in high regard by all his peers.

The boyhood Scouser won every other trophy during his stint with the club, with the UEFA Champions League triumph against AC Milan in Istanbul the standout moment of his career.

Gerrard was often the man for the big occasions for Liverpool and particularly enjoyed playing in European football’s biggest competition as he also reached the final – and eventually lost out to AC Milan in 2007.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been speaking about the Champions League and made a rather interesting claim about Gerrard when asked to name his dream team in the competition.

Arne Slot singles out Steven Gerrard for high praise.

Slot included Gerrard in his team as he paired him alongside Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets and Real Madrid’s Luka Modric in the centre of the park.

The Dutchman honestly accepted the fact that he’d have had Andres Iniesta in his side but opted to go with Gerrard now due to his Liverpool connection.

Additionally, Slot also believes Gerrard deserves a mention as the likes of Iniesta and Zinedine Zidane had the privilege of always playing alongside world-class players, which wasn’t necessarily the case for the former Liverpool captain.

“If you had asked me this a year ago, I would have probably said Iniesta, but I think now I am going to go for Steven Gerrard, being the Liverpool manager,” said Slot on Amazon Prime Video’s YouTube channel.

“Why he might deserve to be in my team is that the other ones, like Iniesta and like Zinedine Zidane, they played with incredible teammates, and, of course, Steven Gerrard played with good to really good teammates.”

“But I don’t think he played with the same level of players that Iniesta or Zidane played with. And then still being so special for the club, winning, lifting the trophy once, playing for so long for this club.”

Gerrard’s UEFA Champions League record for Liverpool

Gerrard made 73 appearances in the competition and won it in 2005 in Istanbul as he played a pivotal role in Liverpool’s comeback against AC Milan.

The legendary grabbed several games but the scruff of its neck, scoring 21 goals and providing 14 assists in the competition.

Until Jurgen Klopp came along, he was the Reds’ highest goalscorer in the competition but was eclipsed by Sadio Mane (24), Roberto Firmino (22) and Mohamed Salah (42), who still has the chance to add to his tally in the coming years.

Jurgen Klopp is said to be earning notably less in his new role compared to his Liverpool salary.

Back in 2022, Klopp signed a new long-term deal which would keep him at Anfield until 2026. However, the German shocked Reds fans in January this year when he announced his departure from the club stating that he had run out of energy as his reason to leave the Reds last summer.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Klopp will become Red Bull’s new Global Head of Soccer, with his role officially commencing on January 1, 2025, with the 57-year-old set to break his hiatus and sign a four-year contract with the energy drink giant.

Klopp’s Red Bull salary emerges

According to German journalist Florian Plettenberg Klopp will earn around €10-12 million per year in his new role.

It is said that the German chose this role consciously, with Liverpool.com reporting his workload will be significantly lower than at Liverpool with  Red Bull confirming Klopp will not be involved in the day-to-day running of Red Bull’s clubs, but will “provide strategic vision, support individual sporting directors, support the organisation’s global scouting operation, and contribute to the training and development of coaches”.

However, should he choose to return to coaching there is a clause in his contract allowing him to vacate the role should he become the German national team head coach.

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Klopp will be earning significantly less in his new role than he earned at Liverpool, where he was reportedly earning around £20m per year, which was said to be a factor into why Germany wouldn’t move to hiring him for the national team.

Could this new role pave the way for him to take over Die Mannschaft in the future?

Wataru Endo has been given limited minutes at Liverpool this season after falling down the midfield pecking order under Arne Slot

Wataru Endo is adamant he has no plans to seek a departure from Liverpool during the January transfer window despite seeing his playing time slashed under Arne Slot.

Endo came off the bench for the closing moments of the 1-0 Premier League at Crystal Palace on Saturday, just his second top-flight appearance of the campaign after a similarly brief outing at home to Brentford in August.

The 31-year-old’s only other first-team opportunity this season was a start in the League Cup win over West Ham United last month, with new Liverpool head coach Slot preferring Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister in the deeper midfield positions.

It is in start contrast to last term, when Endo ended with 47 outings and failed to feature in only four Premier League games for which he was available.

Having fallen down the midfield pecking order, there has been increasing speculation the Japan international could leave in the New Year.

Endo, though, believes Liverpool’s pursuit of honours on four fronts means he remains important for the squad.

“We have a new manager and I think he wants to see every player,” said the midfielder in an interview with the Japanese outlet Synchronous. “It is too early to judge anything.

“A club like Liverpool needs the depth of the squad. It needs all the players to play in all these competitions and to win titles.

“I have no idea what people are saying about me, but my plan is staying here. I have been doing what I should do and getting myself in shape.”

Endo is presently with the Japan national team for their latest round of World Cup qualifiers. He skippered his country to a 2-0 win at Saudi Arabia on Thursday ahead of a clash at home to Australia on Tuesday.

It doesn’t happen often, but Roy Keane was pretty much left lost for words at England’s defending in their 2-1 defeat to Greece on Thursday.

The Three Lions fell to a dismal loss that puts their hopes of promotion back into League A in serious jeopardy, with a Vangelis Pavlidis brace either side of Jude Bellingham’s equaliser giving the Greeks a deserved first-ever win at Wembley.

Interim boss Lee Carsley fielded an experimental starting line-up in the absence of injured captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane.

Instead of starting either Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke, Carlsey instead opted to load the midfield, with Declan Rice, Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka all starting in a 4-2-2-2 formation.

The latter limped off through injury just after half-time and even then, Carsley brought fellow winger Noni Madueke on as his replacement, only finally introducing a striker in the 60th minute in the form of Watkins.

Despite all the creative quality on the pitch for England, it was Greece who looked most threatening throughout, with only VAR saving the Three Lions from further embarrassment with three disallowed goals.

Roy Keane blasts England defending vs Greece.

The manner of England’s defending will worry supporters, with the likes of Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Levi Colwill looking completely void of composure throughout.

Palmer and Saka were also among those called out as Keane went to town on England’s defending for the first Greece goal:

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It didn’t get any better from there, with Pavlidis’ second just as shambolic.

England must pick themselves up quickly as they travel to Finland on Sunday, knowing they cannot afford to drop further points if they wish to maintain hopes of topping the group and earning promotion.

As for Greece, they host the Republic of Ireland with the chance to further cement their place at the top of the standings.

Top photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images