While Liverpool registered a new player for the Champions League, Arne Slot offered an injury update on Trent Alexander-Arnold and revealed a fresh problem for Tyler Morton.
Today’s Main LFC Headline
Rio Ngumoha has been added to Liverpool’s Champions League squad, meaning he is now eligible to play in the competition this season should he be called upon.
Despite training with the squad, the 16-year-old wasn’t able to play in the Reds’ dead rubber against PSV because he wasn’t registered on the A-List.
He also didn’t count as B-List player due to only signing last summer.
However, with midfielder Tom Hill departing permanently for Harrogate Town in January, a space opened up for Ngumoha to be registered.
We could next see the winger involved with the first team on Sunday, with Slot likely to rest several of his first XI.
At this point, though, a start improbable given fellow attackers Federico Chiesa, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo are all fit.
Read more and see the full squad here
News from Arne Slot’s press conference
Slot confirmed Alexander-Arnold will miss the Plymouth match and we will have to “wait and see if he’s available” for Everton – it sounds unlikely
The coach also revealed Morton has picked up a shoulder injury that will keep him out “for four weeks or maybe even longer”
Liverpool will “definitely use a few players that haven’t played that much,” Slot added – so that’s the likes of Chiesa and Joe Gomez you would assume
Today’s other Liverpool FC News
Virgil van Dijk‘s agent was spotted sat next to sporting director Richard Hughes at Anfield on Thursday – obviously they weren’t negotiating at the match but the Times journalist Paul Joyce did comment that “supporters will hope there was something significant” in it
Speaking of things spotted, Van Dijk was the centre of attention on the pitch too as Richarlison and he continued their feud, if you can call a one-sided battle that
The semi-final win means the Reds face Newcastle on March 16 at Wembley, but fans face a difficult journey with railway industrial action planned for the day of the game
Elsewhere, according to the Athletic‘s James Pearce, “senior Anfield figures are delighted with how Ben Doak has embraced the experience given the size of the leap from under-21s football to the Championship”
Elsewhere in the football world today
Ange Postecoglou has said he gets “the pile on at the moment, it’s really easy for people to stick their boots in and question the players” – the Tottenham coach said he is doing that, though
Lisandro Martinez is “likely to miss rest of the season” due to his ACL injury, according to Sky Sports – will ‘the butcher’ really be that much of a miss for Man United anyway?
Aston Villa‘s new signings, Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia, have been omitted from their Champions League squad – not great foresight as Unai Emery had to ‘argue his decision’ to them
Liverpool FC: On this day
There have been several notable events on February 7 throughout the Reds’ history.
First off, legendary player and former assistant manager Sammy Lee was born in Liverpool on this day in 1959.
Across his Liverpool career, the midfielder won four league titles, two European Cups and four consecutive League Cups – happy birthday, Sammy!
In 1992, Lee’s former manager Bob Paisley had to resign from the Liverpool board due to ill health at the age of 73.
Then, in 2013, Jamie Carragher announced he would retire at the end of the campaign, more than 16 years after his debut goal in 1997 under Roy Evans.
