After the disappointing draw with Luton in the Premier League on November 5, Liverpool is back in action in midweek, with the Reds taking on Toulouse in the Europa League. A victory for Jürgen Klopp's men would guarantee qualification to the latter stages and European football to look forward to post-Christmas.
Moreover, it would also mean that Klopp could afford to rest more of his key men for the final two group-stage games, with the matches against LASK and Union Saint-Gilloise meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Klopp has a couple of injury issues going into the game against the French side, with Virgil van Dijk, Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch all unavailable through a combination of illness, hamstring and knee problems.
Van Dijk is likely to return for the game against Brentford, while it's unclear on the timeframe for both Jones and Gravenberch. Following tonight's game with Toulouse, Liverpool will welcome the Bees to Anfield in the Premier League before the last international break of the year.
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Klopp will want his side to go into the huge league game with Manchester City on November 25 with plenty of momentum. Here, Liverpool.com takes a scan around the other big sides in the Premier League and around Europe to take a look at the news going on at the other clubs.
Arsenal to sell four playersArsenal could be set to axe four players in the January transfer window in order to have the funds to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney. According to The Athletic, the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Thomas Partey, Aaron Ramsdale and Eddie Nketiah could all be sold in the winter window in an effort to sign Toney, who has confessed to being a Liverpool fan in the past.
"I’ve been a Liverpool fan my whole life but, from young, I’ve liked watching Arsenal and how they play," Toney said on the Diary of a CEO podcast. "But yeah, I’m a Liverpool boy, a Liverpool fan at heart." Toney is valued at $122m (£100m/€114m) by Brentford according to the report.
Liverpool.com says: Selling four players in order to sign one appears to be a lot of work for Arsenal in the winter transfer window. Moreover, there can be no doubt about his talent, but Brentford's valuation of Toney seems unfathomably high, especially with the player serving a lengthy suspension.
Real Madrid 'gives up' on Kylian MbappéReal Madrid has pursued Kylian Mbappé for years at this stage, but according to reports from Spain, it appears Los Blancos have finally thrown in the towel. According to Spanish source Cadena Ser, Madrid feels that due to Mbappé's age (25 in December), his salary and signing on demands, the French superstar isn't worth the heavy financial burden despite years of chasing him.
It now seems Florentino Pérez has finally admitted defeat in signing Mbappé, even if he leaves Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer at the end of this season. Quite where Mbappé would go if not Real Madrid, though, is a mystery.
Liverpool.com says: One would like to think that Madrid's potential exit from the Mbappé chase gives Liverpool an even bigger chance of signing him, but his wages and signing on fee would simply be too much for the club, and so the pool of teams Mbappé could sign for is, for a player of his immense talent, depressingly small. Real Madrid still appears to be his most likely destination, even if this latest report suggests it is worried about the economics (which surely cannot be a surprise).
