Mohamed Salah\u2019s critical social media<\/a> post last Saturday. The club, however, are backing Slot\u2019s request to strengthen his backroom team this summer and are working on a deal for the Feyenoord assistant manager Reijnen.<\/p>\nReijnen played with Slot at PEC Zwolle and became the Liverpool head coach\u2019s assistant at Feyenoord in 2023. Slot wanted to bring the 39-year-old with him when he was first appointed at Anfield but work permit issues scuppered the move.<\/p>\n
A deal to reunite Slot with his former assistant has not been completed but is progressing. Feyenoord\u2019s technical director, Dennis te Kloese, seemingly confirmed Reijnen\u2019s exit this week when saying: \u201cReijnen is simply a very talented young coach. He doesn\u2019t just go abroad to work for no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot refused to confirm the move on Friday. \u201cAs long as things are not done, then I will not be commenting on who we are signing or who we don\u2019t,\u201d he said. But he added: \u201cIt is fair to say that I have worked with him before and I have a very high regard for him in terms of the coach he is. It is also clear that I tried to sign him two years ago when I first came here but we couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool fans hold up a banner celebrating Mohamed Salah before the Egypt international bids farewell to Anfield on Sunday. Photograph: Adam Vaughan\/EPA<\/p>\n
The Liverpool head coach would also not be drawn on Salah\u2019s latest attempt to undermine him or whether the Egypt international will be involved in Sunday\u2019s finale against Brentford, when both the forward and Andy Robertson will say farewell to Anfield. But he agreed with Salah on the importance of Champions League qualification and insisted Liverpool\u2019s focus must be on securing a top-five finish before turning to the send-offs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you were to ask these two players \u2013 and I think it was also one of the things Mo said in his post \u2013 that he also understands how important qualification for the Champions League is for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to have an even more solid base than the one we have built this season, going into next season, then Champions League football is vital for that. It will give it an even more solid base than without Champions League football.\u201d Andy Hunter<\/p>\n
2. Moyes says Everton must \u2018dodge and weave a bit\u2019<\/p>\n
David Moyes says Everton need \u201ca big summer\u201d when the club\u2019s owners must show the ambition to push the team forward.<\/p>\n
The Everton manager admitted he is despondent over a poor end to the season that has squandered the opportunity to qualify for Europe and demonstrated a lack of quality in the squad. \u201cIt\u2019s shown it only takes a couple of your better players to lose form and your results can change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But having competed at the right end of the table for the first time in several years, Moyes believes the Friedkin Group\u2019s next moves will determine how far the team can progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big summer might mean that we just make one really top signing that makes the difference to the team, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean we go out and buy six players,\u201d said Moyes. \u201cAs a football club we need to show it [ambition]. I want the ownership to show that we are going again. I hope we can add to what we have got and excite the supporters a little bit more with what we are trying to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that Everton fans have had too many dark days over recent seasons. This season showed a little bit of brightness. We have to build on that. We have to keep progressing and not thinking that we have done enough because we are not in relegation trouble. I am confident the owners will help us to get the next piece of the jigsaw. We are not a club to go and spend, as some other clubs do, \u00a3200m-\u00a3300m. We don\u2019t have that. We will need to dodge and weave a bit and hopefully make the right choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Moyes appreciates that Everton fans \u2018have had too many dark days over recent seasons. This season showed a little bit of brightness.\u2019 Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Everton visit relegation-threatened Tottenham on the final day when a first win in seven games for Moyes\u2019s side, coupled with a West Ham victory over Leeds, would keep the Scot\u2019s former club in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I would love to keep West Ham in the league if I can do but it is more important that I get Everton that top-half finish and we get a few more million pounds because of the league position,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to try and finish as high as we possibly can but I really do hope West Ham stay up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be turning up at Tottenham with kids and trialling players to give them an opportunity to show what they can do. They have had that opportunity during the season to show me whether they are ready to play or not. We are only going to Tottenham with a focus of trying to get a result.\u201d AH<\/p>\n
3. Merino on comeback trail after needing mobility scooter<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s Mikel Merino feared that he might never play again after sustaining a stress fracture in \u201ca very strange part of the foot where not even the specialists had seen before\u201d that left him needing a mobility scooter to get around for two months.<\/p>\n
The Spain midfielder is expected to be named in Luis de la Fuente\u2019s World Cup squad next week after returning to training and is hopeful of playing some part in Arsenal\u2019s final game against Crystal Palace on Sunday, when Mikel Arteta\u2019s side will be presented with the Premier League trophy. Merino admitted it has been difficult to watch from the sidelines as his team closed on their first title for 22 years and revealed that he struggled to cope given the uncertainty over the injury at first.<\/p>\n
Mikel Merino is hopeful of playing some part in Arsenal\u2019s final game against Crystal Palace on Sunday, when Mikel Arteta\u2019s side will be presented with the Premier League trophy. Photograph: Peter Cziborra\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning I was a little scared,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to expect, what path to take during the recovery and if I was going to be able to play again. The first couple of weeks were tough. I tried to crack on with it, have the right mentality, be positive and with the right motivation to try to go forward. Everything has gone perfectly since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merino added: \u201cI had two options, to go down and cry myself to extinction or keep my head up, be positive and try to use my time to improve other aspects. Working as hard as I can is the way I approach life. With the mobility scooter it\u2019s just trying to bring fun out of it, see the sun. I couldn\u2019t walk for two months. It\u2019s a hard time on crutches. The mobility scooter was a fun way to see the light of day and enjoy time with the dog.\u201d Ed Aarons<\/p>\n
4. Burnley\u2019s top-flight return \u2018going to be a big job\u2019<\/p>\n
Mike Jackson has warned there are no guarantees Burnley will immediately return to the Premier League following the club\u2019s third relegation in five seasons. Since a five-year stay in the top flight ended in 2022, the Clarets have twice bounced back from the Championship at the first time of asking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be expectation because we\u2019ve done it straight away twice on the spin,\u201d said the interim head coach. \u201cBut that takes a lot. That\u2019s a lot of work that needs to be done \u2013 off the pitch, on the pitch \u2013 to be able to achieve that. You\u2019ve got to be fully committed to that, so that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to do as a club now, really hone in on how we are going to get straight back up. But it\u2019s going to be a big job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnley have won only four of 37 league matches before concluding a dismal season against the bottom club Wolves on Sunday. The second of the Clarets\u2019 two home league victories this term came in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing for us now is to finish off the season properly,\u201d said Jackson, who replaced Scott Parker for the final four games of the campaign. We\u2019ve not made enough of our home games. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing for me and the group. We should have done a lot better at home.\u201d PA Media<\/p>\n
5. Silva says future to be decided next week<\/p>\n
Marco Silva has revealed a decision on his future at Fulham will take place next week. Silva\u2019s contract will expire this summer and the Portuguese coach has recently been linked with a return to his homeland to take over at Benfica.<\/p>\n
However, Silva insisted the only offer on the table for him currently is Fulham and clarity will come at some point next week. Before Sunday\u2019s final-day fixture at home to Newcastle, Silva said: \u201cI don\u2019t see it as an issue first of all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand why you call it an issue, I see it as a situation that we are at the end of contract, we have been talking to the football club and the football club is talking with us. And I\u2019m going to take a decision, as are the football club, next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just have one offer on the table for me to think about. I understand my agent is speaking with the club, but I have an offer from a long, long time that we are talking about and that is Fulham Football Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fulham will make a late call on Ryan Sessegnon, who has been out with a hamstring injury, but Joachim Andersen is suspended. PA Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. Reijnen on Reds\u2019 radar in Slot boost Liverpool are closing in on the appointment of Eti\u00ebnne Reijnen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-688037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}