{"id":310667,"date":"2025-12-11T20:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/310667\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:36:14","slug":"defender-deal-close-35m-elliott-transfer-collapsing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/310667\/","title":{"rendered":"Defender deal close, \u00a335m Elliott transfer collapsing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harvey Elliott<\/a>\u2018s transfer to Aston Villa<\/a> has taken another turn after Unai Emery\u2019s admission, while Liverpool are close to adding a young centre-back to their ranks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Liverpool to sign Celtic centre-back<\/p>\n

Thursday has offered a chance to take a breath after the recent chaotic events since the weekend, and the day brought news of the club being close to securing a deal for centre-back Dara Jikiemi.<\/p>\n

Before you wonder if this is an alternative plan for January, he is only 15, so very much one for the future! <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jikiemi is yet to break through into Celtic\u2019s first-team squad but has already played three years above his age group as part of their U18s side.<\/p>\n

He has, however, had plenty of admirers, including Nottingham Forest<\/a>, and is now nearing closer to following in Ben Gannon-Doak\u2019s footsteps as he too swapped Celtic for Liverpool as a young teen.<\/p>\n

Jikiemi will almost certainly slot into Liverpool\u2019s U18s squad to start with, which speaks volumes about his talent.<\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n

Harvey Elliott could be on his way back to Anfield<\/p>\n

\"BOURNEMOUTH,<\/p>\n

\u2022 A report has reiterated<\/a> Liverpool do not wish to sell Mo Salah<\/a>, but interest from Saudi continues ahead of what he suggested could be his last game at Anfield against Brighton<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u2022 Harvey Elliott<\/a> does not look to have a future at Aston Villa<\/a> after Unai Emery hinted at a return to Liverpool<\/a>, that would see the club miss out on \u00a335m \u2013 he\u2019d be great depth for us, but that would require Slot to use him <\/p>\n

\u2022 Jarell Quansah<\/a>\u2018s body language said more than the words he spoke when he was asked about his relationship with Slot<\/a>, though he was happy to talk about Mo! <\/p>\n

\u2022 James McConnell<\/a> is another who could return to the club<\/a> sooner rather than later having found himself on the outs at Ajax \u2013 his loan has collapsed since John Heitinga\u2019s sacking<\/p>\n

\u2022 Joel Matip<\/a> has made a rare appearance<\/a> for his former club, returning to Schalke to mark their anniversary kit \u2013 he truly is a pro at staying out of the spotlight<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s diamond and how it could suit Salah<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After a change in shape at Inter, Sam Millne has taken a look at the unexpected benefits it could have for Mo Salah<\/a> if Arne Slot<\/a> sticks with the system:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons Slot hasn\u2019t frequently played Isak and Ekitike up front together is likely down to the fact that it isn\u2019t sustainable to play them in every match across a full season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can add Salah into the rotation, however, then it becomes more palatable as a prospect fitness-wise and it also means Liverpool\u2019s whole game isn\u2019t relying on the Egyptian as he edges towards the end of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Egyptian could also play behind a striker with Florian Wirtz<\/a> or Ekitike, making the formation a 4-1-2-2-1 on paper. This would be highly flexible in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: Mo Salah\u2019s return: Why diamond midfield could suit Liverpool\u2019s No. 11<\/a><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the football world today<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

\u2022 The US is planning for fans travelling for the World Cup to disclose information about their social media accounts as part of their tourist visa \u2013 will anyone be in the stadiums next summer? (Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Xabi Alonso reportedly has until the end of the year to convince Real Madrid<\/a> not to part ways \u2013 you have to wonder if Liverpool are keeping an eye on it (AS<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gabriel Jesus returned for Arsenal<\/a> on Wednesday, featuring for the first time in 332 days after an ACL injury \u2013 that offers an idea of when we could expect Giovanni Leoni<\/a> to return<\/p>\n

Liverpool FC: On this day<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

On this day in 2018 (yes, it\u2019s already been SEVEN years), Liverpool secured a narrow 1-0 win over Napoli to progress in the Champions League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah<\/a> scored the important winner but Alisson<\/a> proved just as instrumental, making an incredible injury-time save that preserved the result.<\/p>\n

I can still hear the Anfield crowd bellowing, \u2018Alisson<\/a>, Alisson<\/a>, Alisson<\/a>!\u2019<\/p>\n

It was a sliding doors moment as Liverpool went on to lift the Champions League<\/a> trophy that season, a moment that would not have been possible without Salah\u2019s goal or Alisson<\/a>\u2018s intervention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harvey Elliott\u2018s transfer to Aston Villa has taken another turn after Unai Emery\u2019s admission, while Liverpool are close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,20608,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-310667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-round-up","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}