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Will Klopp go back in for Fekir next summer?

Liverpool’s stance has always been that that deal is absolutely dead in the water and won’t be revisited because of concerns of his knee and how his ACL had been repaired. They felt there was a higher than normal chance of it going again.

There must be a point where the price would come down when Liverpool would think he would be worth the risk. I don’t know what that level would be but he hasn’t signed a new contract. As that contract runs down, the numbers might suddenly be more appealing to Liverpool in terms of the risk-factor. I honestly don’t know the answer to that but Liverpool have always been adamant that that ship has well and truly sailed and won’t be revisited.

But Klopp is a big fan of Fekir and he hasn’t broken down yet so far this season. With the previously-agreed fee and wages, you’ll talking about a £70million commitment for a player that could miss a year out of the next three or four. If that fees come down, it might be worth having another conversation but I wouldn’t be getting Fekir on the back of a shirt anytime soon.

(Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Any truth in these reports of buying Christian Pulisic and funding it by selling Fabinho?

No. The suggestion he’ll be sold in January is bizarre. Liverpool have bought him for the long-term. Klopp believes in him and won’t have bought a player for £40million only to get rid of him after a few months. There has always been no rush with him. I don’t see him going.

Pulisic is an interesting one because Klopp would love him. He was the one who promoted him to the first team at Dortmund. He was brilliant against Liverpool in pre-season. When you watch him, you can see he’s a Klopp player and why he wants him and admires him so much.

His contract is only until 2020 so that will have a say on how much Dortmund can demand for him. Klopp has had a bid for him rejected before. There is a greater chance of Liverpool signing Pulisic than Fekir.

(Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

What sort of punishment can we expect for Daniel Sturridge?

It’s very difficult to answer that at the moment without knowing the full extent of the evidence against him. The FA made public last week that he has been charged with misconduct. There are two elements to that. One is the placing of bets, either directly or indirectly. The other is the passing on of information, in their rulebook it is information that is not in the public domain, that is then used for betting purposes.

We’ll know a lot more later in the week. Sturridge has until Tuesday evening to respond to the FA charges. The extent of the evidence if he is found guilty will be a big part. It’s not one of those things where you can look at it and go “If he’s done that, he will get this x-amount fine or x-amount games banned.”

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Every case is very different. Joey Barton got a massive ban, 18 months reduced on appeal, but that was over 1,000 bets over a 10-year period. I don’t think we’re talking about anything to that scale. At the other end of the spectrum you have players being fined £25,000 for placing a bet on a game which they weren’t involved in but of course, no employee is allowed to bet on any type of football.

It was pretty clear last week that a decent chunk of the case against Sturridge, if not all of it, relates to bets placed on his move to West Brom on loan back in January. There had been a lot of talk of a move to Inter Milan. There was an offer on the table and they had been favourites to sign him. Newcastle had come in and he’d held discussions with them too so the West Brom interest really came out of the blue. That’s what the case largely relates to.

I find it very odd in this, I must say. Are you saying players aren’t allowed to speak to anyone and have to live in a cave for a duration of a transfer window? It’s crazy.

It’s difficult to comment without knowing the evidence the FA have got but this happened in January. It’s taken until November to hit him with the charges so you’d think it wouldn’t have got this far if there wasn’t some pretty strong evidence. We’ve got to wait and see how many bets were placed and who they were placed by.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Sturridge because if it is just a case of people close to him using that information, learning he was going to West Brom and placing bets, it’s very harsh to hold a player accountable for that. At the moment it is too difficult to say what will happen to him.

Should Daniel Sturridge be getting more of a run in the team?

He’s been knocked down the pecking order a bit by the change of formation to find room for Xherdan Shaqiri and to see the best of him. It’s limited Sturridge’s game-time somewhat and I’d say he’s been unlucky not to have played more in the last month or so. It felt Red Star was a massive missed opportunity for him, he missed that chance early on. When you’re not getting many opportunities, that was a big chance he couldn’t take. It’s harsh to judge him on that though when so many players had a poor night.

It’s interesting with him because he did fantastically well to force his way back into Klopp’s plans, but even when he was scoring goals, Klopp said he felt the next challenge for Sturridge was to prove he can play at that intensity for longer than 20-30 minutes. Maybe with all this betting business, that I’m sure Klopp has known about for quite some time, you wonder if that has played a part in him maybe thinking his mind isn’t 100% on it but I hope we see him come back stronger in the next month or two because it’s such a demanding period. He’ll have a part to play and is a much better option than Origi or Solanke.

What can we expect to receive for Nathaniel Clyne and could he leave in January?

He’s a difficult player to put a value on because he has had a bleak 18 months. The team has evolved and left Clyne behind. He doesn’t offer enough going forward but he’d still walk into probably half of the teams in the Premier League. He’s 27 and has 18 months left on his contract. £8-10million maybe?

Whether he’ll go in January, I’m not sure. If Liverpool are right in the mix, Klopp will be loathe to trim it too much just in case something happened. But Trent Alexander-Arnold is obviously first-choice, Gomez can play there and Fabinho is an option too.

I struggle to see a way back for Clyne at Liverpool. When Klopp has decided Trent’s needed a breather, he’s not turned to him. He’s not even made the matchday squad in the Premier League since the opening weekend.

What other January outgoings can we expect?

It looked like Markovic had finally departed at the end of the summer window only for that to collapse at the 11th hour. He’s hung around this long and out of contract in the summer, if you’re him you’re probably only leaving in January if you get your contract paid up. If he goes in January or the summer, it’ll make no difference to fee Liverpool can get. I don’t think they’ll get a penny for him.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The interesting one in January will be will it be Origi or Solanke who go because I don’t think he can afford to lose both. Solanke needs loan because he hasn’t had a look in this season, but Liverpool made it clear they would entertain offers for Divock Origi. The asking price of £20million will probably put a lot of teams off.

It’s a similar situation to what Liverpool found themselves in with Mignolet and Karius last summer. They could afford to let one go but not both and then it depends on the offers that come in. A Solanke loan is probably more likely but if someone offers £20million for Origi, their hand will get bitten off and Solanke will get told to stay put until the summer.

Will there be any January incomings?

I don’t think Klopp will do anything. After the Dembele reports last week the response was not only was there is no intention of launching a bid for him, there’s no intention of launching a bid for anyone in January. I don’t see it being a particularly exciting window for Liverpool.

You look at that squad, people might say they lack an attacking midfielder but I don’t think Klopp sees it that way. Van Dijk was a different case completely because Liverpool had almost had a five month punishment for how they had handled it before they finally got him.

Klopp doesn’t tend to dip into the market in January and I think he genuinely thinks that he’s got enough to sustain a challenge right through until May. He said himself something crazy would have to happen for him to dip into the market and I think he was being genuine.

What’s happening with Sadio Mane’s contract?

At the moment not a lot is going on with it. There has been a lot of focus on it over the last four or five months because Salah and Firmino committed their futures to the club. So far it hasn’t happened with Mane.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

I asked him about it in the mixed-zone after Arsenal and he did what Sadio Mane does, he laughed and smiled and said he’s happy where he is and it’s in the hands of his agent. He’s enjoying his football and wants to do his best for the fans.

I understand Liverpool opened discussions with his representatives at the end of last season. They said we’ve done it for Firmino, are doing it for Salah and would like to recognise his progress with new terms and a five-year contract so you let us know when you’d like to sit down and we’ll do that. For whatever reason, those negotiations haven't reached a successful conclusion yet.

He’s under contract until 2021. It always used to be clubs would sit down to renegotiate when it got to the last two years. If we’re still in pre-season next year and it hasn’t been resolved, then it would be a genuine source of concern.

At the moment it’s not one to be unduly worried about. It doesn’t really mean anything though, does it. How soon after his new contract was Coutinho off? Suarez too. Even if Sadio Mane signed a contract today, it doesn’t mean we’d see him in a Liverpool shirt for the next five years.

What’s the latest update on the Anfield Road redevelopments?

Nothing new in the last few months. Liverpool have made it clear that the feasibility studies are ongoing in terms of the best design and the best way to go about it to boost the stadium capacity to 60,000+.

I think it will happen. I got told they are very much focussed on getting the training ground built and that is project that is dominating thoughts at the moment. After that we’ll see Anfield Road. I think the deadline for planning permission is next September, although even that deadline is not as significant as it looks in terms of getting the ball rolling because the word was Liverpool will end up building something so different to what they got planning permission for, they’d have to go back and get planning permission again anyway.

The success of the Main Stand has fuelled the appetite for FSG to crack on with phase two of the redevelopment but we’re not going to see it starting in the short-term.

Will Klopp be in danger of losing his job if Liverpool don’t win a trophy or mount a serious title challenge?

(Image: PA)

That is not a cat in hell’s chance that he will go anywhere regardless of what happens between now and May. The amount of credit in the bank is vast. Think back to where Liverpool were when he came in three years ago to where they are now. They had a successful year last year without winning a trophy because they got to a Champions League Final when no-one in their wildest dreams thought that was realistic.

You want something to show for it but it’s ridiculous. If he doesn’t win a trophy, what’s going to happen? Where would Liverpool go after Klopp if the wheels did come off?

He’s sick of the run of final defeats but he also knows there is zero danger of his job being on the line. He’s done a fantastic job so far. He’s transformed every single area of the club.

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The recruitment has been spot on after some spectacular failures before that. He will be at Liverpool until the end of his contract in 2022 at least.