Potential right-back target Ola Aina has seen his Nottingham Forest contract extended, while Anthony Taylor has been named referee for Liverpool vs. Arsenal.
Today’s Main LFC Headline
With Trent Alexander-Arnold officially leaving the club, thoughts have turned to who will take his place as Liverpool’s right-back.
The obvious answer is, of course, Conor Bradley. The 21-year-old has talent but also a problematic injury record, albeit at a young age.
A potential option could be Nottingham Forest‘s Aina, who has impressed across the course of this campaign.
He has now, though, seen a one-year extension in his contract activated, meaning that his Forest deal doesn’t expire until 2026, reports the Athletic.
Given the report also states Forest “remain keen to agree a longer-term deal,” this would reduce the chance of him signing for Liverpool this summer as competition for Bradley.
Today’s Liverpool FC News
Taylor will take charge of Liverpool vs. Arsenal, while Paul Tierney will be the video assistant referee
Arsene Wenger has warned Alexander-Arnold against obsessing over the Ballon d’Or and has explained Real Madrid‘s approach to the move – a seemingly rare, sensible current opinion from the ex-Arsenal manager
Wolves want to extend Rayan Ait-Nouri’s contract, report the Telegraph – Liverpool ‘admired’ him but their preferred left-back choice is now Milos Kerkez
More from This Is Anfield
Mo Stewart‘s latest article for This Is Anfield takes a detailed look at why, this summer, Liverpool could break their habit of avoiding Premier League players in their recruitment.
“There will always be links to players from within the Premier League, but modern history suggests that completing those deals may be unlikely. Across the last five seasons, Liverpool have signed just two players who have already featured in England’s top division.
“Most people would agree that Diogo Jota and Alexis Mac Allister can both be called success stories, and yet for all of the strong rumours in that time for players such as Mason Mount, Antonee Robinson, Ola Aina, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Bryan Mbuemo and Mohammed Kudus, to name but six, there has been a reluctance to make a deal with their Premier League peers.”
Elsewhere in the football world today
Mikel Arteta has made another bizarre claim about Liverpool’s title, appearing to show his maths isn’t the best as he stated Arsenal would have won the league with their points total in the last two years – we debunked that myth here
Watford have sacked manager Tom Cleverley after just one season in the job permanently – that’s at least 19 managers since 2011 now!
After Tuesday’s thrilling Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Internazionale, it would take some effort from Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain to match that level of excitement on Wednesday night – kick-off is at 8pm (BST)
Liverpool FC: On this day
Can you believe that it has already been six years since Liverpool’s famous 4-0 Champions League semi-final win over Barcelona?
With the Reds 3-0 down from the first leg and missing key players such as Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino, on May 7, 2019, they produced one of the greatest comebacks ever.
It is worth remembering, too, that this came the night after Vincent Kompany’s late screamer for Man City denied the title moving into Liverpool’s hands before the last day of the season.
If there was ever a time Anfield and the players needed to step up, it was on this night – and how they did!
