Liverpool will be back in action next weekend when they play against Enzo Maresca’s lead squad at Anfield.

Ahead of the weekend faceoff, the Reds have been handed a significant boost ahead of playing host to Chelsea in the Premier League after the October international break.

So far this season, manager Arne Slot has made a impressive start to life at Anfield, the Merseyside giants sitted at the top of the Premier League table after seven matches.

The recent update revealed Virgil van Dijk, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah have all made an early return to club duties having previously been in line to be away until early next week.

While playing for the Netherlands against Hungary on Friday night, Van Dijk was sent off and will subsequently serve a one-match suspension for Oranje.

Jones received a late call-up to the England squad for Thursday’s game with Greece, but the midfielder was not allowed to leave the Three Lions camp due to a personal commitment.

Meanwhile, the Blues’ match against Liverpool will be one of the talk about this weekend as Chelsea will look forward to winning or atlesst split points with the Reds

Xabi Alonso’s decision to stay at Bayer Leverkusen broke Liverpool hearts, but as an alternative Trent Alexander-Arnold plan emerges, maybe his call could help the Reds out.

When Xabi Alonso ruled himself out of the running to become Jurgen Klopp’s successor, Liverpool fans were understandably devastated.

Breaking records left, right and center as he led Bayer Leverkusen to its first-ever Bundesliga title, there wasn’t a more sought-after manager in world football. Not only that, but a return to Anfield just seemed like the perfect storyline.

It wasn’t to be though, with Alonso electing to stay put in Germany, while Liverpool turned its attentions to Arne Slot. That move has of course worked out pretty well for the Reds, but the chances of Alonso stepping into the home dugout at Anfield in the future are looking pretty slim now.

There’s seemingly little doubt what the former midfielder’s next job will be. Everything seems to be geared toward him taking on the biggest job in European football – Real Madrid.

According to The Athletic, Alonso is one of the leading candidates to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at some point. Sport BILD, meanwhile, suggested last month that change could happen as early as next summer, despite the Italian’s contract running until 2026.

And should Alonso be set for a return to the Bernabeu, he could take one of his Leverkusen stars along with him, which might well be music to the ears of Liverpool.

As per Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Real is monitoring Jeremie Frimpong’s situation ahead of a potential transfer next summer. The Netherlands international is one of the names said to be on the Spanish giant’s list as it looks for a new right-back, and we all know what one of those other names is likely to be.

With speculation rife over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future, there is a growing fear among Liverpool fans that their vice-captain will be heading to the Bernabeu at the end of his contract. It won’t be long until the 26-year-old can negotiate a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club, should he decide against extending his stay at Anfield.

Does Madrid’s interest in Frimpong offer a glimmer of hope though? Perhaps, although it still seems a bit of a stretch.

Real has made a habit of picking up big names for absolutely nothing recently, with Kylian Mbappe the most obvious example. If the opportunity is there to get a deal for Alexander-Arnold over the line in January without spending a penny, it wouldn’t make much sense for the team to wait until the summer to trigger a $44m (£33m/€40m) release clause for Frimpong.

If Los Blancos have their sights set on Alonso becoming manager soon though, it would make sense to target a player that has shone under his guidance. Frimpong has been one of the standout stars at Leverkusen over the past year or so, and maybe that could convince Real he’s the perfect option for a new era with the Spaniard.

It might all prove to be wishful thinking, but Real’s interest in Frimpong could be the first signs of Alexander-Arnold favoring a new contract at Liverpool. If that is the case, Alonso’s decision not to pursue a return to Anfield could be about to pay off big time for the Reds.

Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa has come under fire after Luis Suarez’s comments.

Marcelo Bielsa has admitted that his ‘authority’ has been affected as Uruguay manager after Luis Suarez’s criticism.

Liverpool hero Suarez retired from international duty last month and subsequently hit out at La Celeste boss Bielsa’s methods. Suarez revealed that Reds striker Darwin Nunez was reduced to tears at half-time in a clash against Argentina in November 2023 because of the ex-Leeds United chief’s harsh approach. Nunez went on to score the second goal in Uruguay’s historic 2-0 win and immediately celebrated the goal with Suarez.

Revealing what he told Nunez in the dressing room, Suarez recalled: “You are here on your own merit, because of how you work, because you are a goalscorer and you are the best. You have to continue like this, forget what others are saying. Wash your face, go out there and smash it.” The country’s captain Federico Valverde admitted that he and other senior players planned to hold talks with Bielsa over his modus operandi. Uruguay suffered a shock 1-0 loss at the hands of Peru last weekend, which leaves them third in the South American table to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. La Celeste face Ecuador in the early hours of Wednesday hoping to get back on track, with Nunez available after having his five-game ban he picked up in the Copa America for a fracas with Colombia fans suspended.

One Liverpool player has described one of the club’s talented youngsters as “outstanding” – even better than star player Mohamed Salah.

There are few who can compare to the Egyptian in world football, let alone Liverpool.

However, according to one current Liverpool player, there is a player at the club who surpasses even Salah when it comes to one ability in particular.

Speaking to Scottish newspaper the Daily Record, on-loan Reds player Luca Stephenson spoke at length about one of Liverpool’s most exciting young talents, winger Ben Doak.

Currently, the Scotsman is enjoying his brilliant form on loan at Middlesbrough and has also started to break into the Scottish national team.

And he is very clearly catching the attention of his Liverpool teammates as well.

Why Ben Doak is already better at something than Mohamed Salah

Stephenson has explained that he thinks Doak is already better than Mohamed Salah and the rest of the Liverpool first team at his one vs one ability.

“In all honesty I’ve not seen anybody I’ve played against or played with have kind of that one-v-one talent that he’s got. That’s talking about first team players at Liverpool in terms of one-v-one taking players on. I genuinely don’t think there’s anybody as good as him in that kind of sense.

“He beats you and you’ve just got to hope for a bad cross or a bad ball to pull you out of things. He’s at Middlesbrough this year and I think that will do him the world of good. He’s got a very good career in the game I’m sure.”

It’s quite the statement from Stephenson, who came through the ranks with Doak and finds himself in Scotland now, on loan at Dundee United. Current Reds star Andy Robertson is a former Dundee player, and Stephenson spoke about how much he helped out with the move.

“I spoke to him a little bit when I knew I was coming up here. He told me how much I’d love it and looked to speak to some of the staff who were still here from when he was playing so that was good.”

Stephenson has enjoyed a decent time of it so far during this loan spell, including scoring his first professional goal in a 2-0 win over St. Johnstone in August.

Liverpool came awfully close to completing a move for Martin Zubimendi in the summer transfer window.

Close but no cigar will offer little in the way of consolation for Richard Hughes, of course, even if Ryan Gravenberch appears to have benefitted immensely and is playing with renewed confidence.

The Dutch international can’t be expected to feature in every possible outing for the Merseysiders – even if Arne Slot does appear to enjoy sticking with a consistent starting XI.

So, there’s every possibility that the Reds could look to renew interest in Zubimendi in the upcoming January transfer window. Certainly, interested clubs will surely only be emboldened the longer the midfielder goes without signing a new contract.

Liverpool could still sign Martin Zubimendi in January

Ian Doyle noted that Liverpool could go back in for the Spanish international in the winter window. However, that relies on him first opting for a move away from Real Sociedad.

“I think if Martin Zubimendi wants to leave Real Sociedad in January, I think Liverpool will try and sign him,” the Echo‘s chief Liverpool reporter spoke on the Blood Red podcast.

“We know they’ve got the money for him, otherwise they wouldn’t have approached in the first place.

The chances of such a change of mind from the 25-year-old currently seem rather slim. Fabrizio Romano reported that the player does not intend to leave La Real this coming January, though the subject could be revisited in the summer.

Does Martin Zubimendi still have a release clause?

Martin Zubimendi’s £51m release clause is understood to remain active under his current terms with the La Liga outfit.

“I’m not sure what the deal is with his release clause, does it still apply?” Doyle went on to add.

“I would assume it would do because there was never any suggestion of a deadline. So, it was just a whole fiddly bit and Sociedad called his bluff and he said, ‘I wanna stay’ […]

“The deadline is his contract basically. So if he fancies it, then I think Liverpool quite clearly will go in for him, because they wanted him. As well as Gravenberch and the rest of them have done – they can’t play all the games!”

Naturally, a potential move to Liverpool or any other suitor in a few months must be predicated on the holding midfielder’s willingness to activate his own release clause.

We already know that Real Sociedad know exactly how to play on their No.4’s heartstrings when it comes to the perks of his locale.

If Zubimendi wants to seek pastures new, he’s going to have to do more than just signal his intention.

Liverpool’s number 10 Alexis Mac Allister has been confirmed to be back in Argentina’s training camp before the next match against Bolivia, played on Wednesday.

The midfielder didn’t feel well after Liverpool‘s last match against Crystal Palace in which Arne Slot substituted the player to get replaced with Dominik Szoboszlai after the half-time break.

In Argentina’s recent 1-1 draw against Venezuela, the player was benched with no playing time during the match after the coach decided to rest him due to a groin injury.

The good news for the fans is that Alexis Mac Allister has returned to training with his country and will be available for the 10th match in South America’s World Championship qualifiers. For the moment, Lionel Scaloni’s team is placed at the top of the league with 19 points, leaving Luis Diaz’s Colombia in second place with three points less.

Mac Allister has scored in only one match out of nine during the campaign, and the goal came in the 3-0 win against Chile when the player received an assist from Atletico Madrid’s new signing Julian Alvarez.

The 25-year-old has been excellent for Liverpool ever since his arrival in the summer of 2024 when Jurgen Klopp was still the manager of the Reds. Being one of the main players in the team, Alexis Mac Allister has started in almost every match for his team after leaving Brighton for only 35 million pounds.

In his first season in Merseyside, the Argentinian scored seven goals and provided seven assists for the team, marking a perfect signing for the Liverpool squad.

His 24/25 season is going well, starting in every match for Liverpool except in the 5-1 win against West Ham in the EFL Cup round of 16, where the Reds will face Brighton for the quarter-finals on 30 October.

Arne Slot’s team faces a tough challenge after the international break due to the busy schedule which starts on 20 October against Chelsea in Anfield. After winning seven out of six games, Liverpool is first in the Premier League table with 18 points, failing to keep the perfect form on against Nottingham Forest in which the Reds lost 1-0 in their own stadium.

Next for Mac Allister and his country is the Venezuela game in which Scaloni’s boys will try to achieve another three points so they can finish the international break at the top of the table.

Down below you can see the official tweet from @AnfieldAgenda confirming Alexis Mac Allister’s return to the training session:

https://x.com/AnfieldAgenda/status/1845600159238848752?t=Lj0BIyBVmU5Nar__YXswgA&s=19

Javier Mascherano became a Kop idol in his stint at Liverpool however he left the club on bad terms after he resorted to drastic actions to force through a move to Barcelona.

Former Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano once revealed that he regretted how he acted in order to force his way out of the club.

The Argentinian joined the Reds from West Ham in 2007 and spent three years at the club. Mascherano became a firm fan favourite at Anfield with the Kop even assigning him his own song after warming to his fully committed displays on the pitch.

The tough tackling midfielder turned out for the Reds 94 times and was a key asset in the team that ran Manchester United close for the Premier League title in 2008/2009 under Rafa Benitez. However, Mascherano’s relationship with the club soured as he sought a move to Barcelona following Roy Hodgson’s arrival at the club in 2010.

After the Reds refused to entertain a bid from the Spanish giants for the midfielder’s services, Mascherano then left in unceremonious circumstances following a brief period of time where he refused to play. Despite his switch seeing him win five LaLiga titles and two Champions League trophies, the now 40-year-old claims the way in which he forced his way out Liverpool “upset” him.

Mascherano opened up on the saga in March 2021. Speaking to FourFourTwo he said: “Liverpool fans weren’t happy with me at all and I completely understood why.”

Liverpool’s struggles at boardroom level in the mid 00s, a time when the club transitioned from the ownership of much maligned American duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett to John W. Henry, were notorious. They also had a huge effect on several of their star players.

Just like his team-mate Fernando Torres, who would leave Liverpool at the start of 2011, Mascherano claimed the direction of the club was not aligned with his own, while he also wanted to leave the UK for family reasons. He added: “On the other hand, the board at the time had promised me something and weren’t keeping their word.

“We’d spoken about extending my contract, but it seemed like the directors didn’t care about me. In the pre-season after Rafa left, Roy Hodgson arrived.

“We had a meeting with the managing director, Christian Purslow, who told me I could go if a good offer came in. Then there was an offer on the table, but Liverpool were looking the other way.”

With Mascherano seemingly running out of options, the former River Plate man decided to go on a one-man strike. However despite voicing his regret at doing so he still maintains that the club failed to keep their word when it came to granting him a move.

“I was quite angry that they weren’t keeping their word. Refusing to play at City was the way I found to show my annoyance.

“I’d told the club I wanted to leave for family reasons, so I was very upset to have to act the way I did. There was no other option – otherwise, Liverpool wouldn’t keep their promise.”

While Mascherano didn’t win any silverware during his time at Liverpool, he was vital in the team that almost won the Premier League while he reached the Champions League quarter-final the same season with the Reds. He also played in a Europa League semi-final for the club the following season and, regardless of the way his time at Liverpool came to an end, he still speaks highly of his time under Benitez.

“I’ll be forever grateful for the way (Rafa Benitez) helped me – without him, my career wouldn’t have been the same.

“When I went to Liverpool, I was still a young player with little experience, but Rafa’s concepts and philosophy shaped me into a far better player. I evolved a lot under him defensively, and my reading of the game improved a great deal too.”

It appears that Mascherano’s love for Liverpool continued even into his highly successful days with Barcelona. Upon winning the 2011 Champions League Final against Manchester United, Mascherano dedicated the victory over the Merseyside club’s bitter rivals to Red’s fans, saying: “I want to say, I know that Liverpool supporters, after my exit, I know they were a little bit sad with me—this is for them as well.”

Arne Slot looks to have settled in perfectly, but the new Liverpool boss still followed the same example set by Jurgen Klopp when he was asked about Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot made the same Steven Gerrard U-Turn as Jurgen Klopp.

Slot, 46, looks to have already won over the Anfield faithful by winning nine of his first ten matches in all competitions. One of the Dutchman’s latest tests saw him posed with the same question Klopp received when he was in charge of the Merseysiders.

He was asked to name the one player he wished he was able to manage over the course of his managerial career. After admitting that the player he once wanted to coach most was Andres Iniesta, Slot did the kind of U-turn that would make him popular at Anfield.

He confidently named Gerrard as the one player he wished to coach. When he was in the Liverpool hot seat, Klopp did the exact same thing.

Slot told Amazon Prime Video: “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.

“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.”

Slot’s answer suggests he was trying to curry favour with his new fan-base. He may have also been aware of Klopp’s answer to that question.

The German said: “Stevie and me together in the roles. He as the man on the pitch and me as a coach that would have been nice. So it’s Stevie.

“Six years ago it would have been a different answer but now I’m here and I know him as a person and as a player so that’s now an easy answer.”

While Slot appeared to admit that he put Gerrard at the top of his list because of the ex-England international’s status at the club, Klopp appeared to suggest that he wanted to work with the former Reds’ captain after getting to know him.

Whatever the case may be, Liverpool fans have plenty of reason to be happy with the former Feyenoord manager. They are top of the Premier League having won all but one match and are currently on course to finish in the top eight of the Champions League table.

Slot’s first European matches as Liverpool boss saw his side overcome AC Milan at the San Siro 3-1 before a routine 2-0 home victory over Bologna. The new Liverpool boss has a busy week to look forward to after the international break, as his side travel host Chelsea at Anfield in the Premier League before visiting RB Leipzig in the Champions League.