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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Jurgen Klopp has already written himself into Liverpool folklore.

Last season’s Champions League victory made the former Borussia Dortmund manager just the fourth manager in the club’s history to lead them to the continent’s summit, and the 97 points he picked up in the Premier League last time out almost clinched their first top-flight title since 1990. If the Reds do prevail in the top tier this term – it looks pretty good at the moment as they lead the way – then he will become a bona fide Anfield legend.

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During his four years at the club so far, he has made some fantastic signings. The likes of Alisson, Andrew Robertson and Virgil van Dijk helped the Merseyside outfit concede just 22 goals in the league last season, the least in the division, whilst the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have scored plenty of goals at the other end – they were joint-winners of the Premier League’s Golden Boot last season, along with Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Across that period, 28 players have left the club to move elsewhere, either on free transfers or cash fees. It is a true testament to Klopp’s ability as a manager when you look at the careers of those players who have left. For example, observe Philippe Coutinho. The Brazil international pushed for a move to Barcelona in 2017, and eventually went to the Camp Nou in January 2018 for £106m. Howevever, after just 18 months and 76 appearances, he was shipped out to Bayern Munich on loan after even being booed by some of the Catalan outfit’s supporters. His stock has certainly not gone up.

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Jordon Ibe and Dominic Solanke are at the other end of the spectrum. Both were failing to receive regular starts at Anfield, and were sold to Bournemouth during separate transfer windows. Since then, they have just five goals in 115 matches between them at the Vitality Stadium. Incredibly, Liverpool made over £30m from their sales.

The list of those who have fallen off the grid since their departures keeps on going. Joe Allen was sold to Stoke, and now plays in the Championship, while Christian Benteke has just 21 goals in 102 games since making his club record £27m move to Crystal Palace. Arguably, only Luis Alberto, who is now valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt – a considerable amount more than the £4.3m he was sold for in 2016 – has improved his fortunes as he stars for Lazio – this season, he already has 10 assists in 13 Serie A matches.

For £326.32m, Klopp has managed to make a fortune from players who have, for the most part, nose-dived since leaving Merseyside. His genius, it seems, knows no bounds.

Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard could help Liverpool sign two youngsters.

It’s fair to say Gareth Bale will go down in the history books as one of Tottenham’s best ever players in recent memory.

Having arrived from Southampton, the Wales international broke out of his shell as a left-back, and developed into one of the world’s most devastating wingers, eventually earning a big-money move to European giants Real Madrid.

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In his time at Spurs, Bale played 203 times across all competitions, scoring 56 goals and providing a further 58 assists, and came up with some truly epic moments, not least that hat-trick at the San Siro against Inter in the Champions League.

Despite it being a few years since he left the club, Spurs fans have taken to Twitter to reminisce about their former talisman.

Some supporters of the north London side called on Bale to “come back”, with one fan in particular urging Daniel Levy to “bring him home”.

If the finances are right, then Levy can somehow work his magic in the transfer market, then it really would be a story for the ages to see Bale return home to north London.

He seemingly hasn’t quite settled into life off-the-pitch at Madrid, with teammate Thibaut Courtois publicly questioning his commitment to the cause.

As some Spurs fans have suggested, maybe it’s the perfect time for him to come back.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans react to links with this Eredivisie ace.

Loads of Leeds United fans have drooled over Pablo Hernandez after the Championship shared a remarkable statistic about the midfielder. 

The league’s official Twitter account tweeted that since the start of the 2017/18 season, Hernandez has created 26 assists in the English second division, the most out of all of his closest rivals in that period up until now. 

Ever since he first arrived at Elland Road on loan from Stars League side Al Arabi, the Spaniard has become a firm fan-favourite, scoring 6 goals and producing 6 assists for Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites this season, taking 2.3 shots per game, averaging 2.3 key passes, and successfully completing at least 1.1 dribbles on average (via WhoScored). His current market value is estimated at just £1.08m according to Transfermarkt.   

Hernandez has played for a number of clubs throughout his long career so far, including the likes of Valencia, Getafe, and Swansea City. The 35-year-old also won 4 caps and netted one goal for his national team (Transfermarkt). 

Despite the fact he is surely heading towards the twilight of his career, the veteran has shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon, and supporters will be delighted to find out his contract still has two years left on the original agreement. 

Unsurprisingly, many Peacocks have been praising the latest revelation online, with one fan exclaiming “what a player.”

Scroll through the rest of the best reactions down below…  

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Arguably one of the forgotten men of what had been another incredible season for Liverpool, Dejan Lovren’s game-time at Anfield has been majorly limited.

The Croatia international has featured just 14 times across all competitions under Jurgen Klopp this year, with only nine of them coming in the Reds’ charge for the Premier League title.

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A muscle injury has played a big part in his lack of first-team action, and it now appears, he may have played one of his final games for the club.

According to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Serie A giants AS Roma hope that their good working relationship with Liverpool can allow them to strike a deal for Lovren.

After hearing about the update on the Croatian’s future, Liverpool fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.

A couple of Liverpool fans name-checked Michael Edwards, and his incredible work in negotiating.

With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez helping to form a formidable partnership at the back – the Reds have conceded just 21 goals all season in the Premier League – it’s difficult to see how Lovren realistically fits into Klopp’s plans.

The Merseyside club may well just be better off cashing in on the centre-back this summer.

Adrian has had nothing but positive things to say about Liverpool in a recent interview as he opens up on his future. 

The Spaniard recently spoke to Radio Sevilla (relayed via @LFCTransferRoom) about his position at the Merseyside outfit and his future moving forward. Adrian has highlighted that he is in a ‘beautiful moment’ as part of the Liverpool team and believes he has ‘many years of football left’.

The 33-year-old has stated he is committed to the Reds and ‘wouldn’t change anything’ about where he is at the moment. Adrian joined Liverpool last summer on a free transfer from West Ham, after long-term servant goalkeeper Simon Mignolet joined Club Brugge (via BBC Sport).

Despite the Spaniard’s complimentary words, many Reds fans are still not on his side. Adrian saw a lot of Kopites turn on him after his woeful display against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, which ultimately saw Liverpool crash out of the competition.

Now, supporters have taken to Twitter to remind Adrian that they are still unhappy with him. One fan has tweeted that he is ‘testing my self control’ whilst another claimed he is ‘awful’:

Do you think Adrian can turn his Liverpool career around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

David Moyes is preparing the West Ham squad for the return of the Premier League, and it looks like a surprising name might be in the starting eleven for their first fixture against Wolves on the 20th June.

According to Football.London,  David Moyes has a dilemma in the centre of midfield and he could be tempted to bring in a ‘curveball’ option and pick Jack Wilshere in the middle.

This would be a very intriguing option should Moyes go through with it, the Englishman hasn’t featured in the Premier League since 19th October 2019 (largely due to injury) and he only played for 27 minutes, whilst he received an average 6.1 rating from Sofascore.

It is something that hasn’t gone down well with the Hammers fanbase and arguably it would mean the Irons would not be fielding their strongest midfield as the player is not going to be match sharp yet. Indeed, many even suggest that if he does play, it may be the only time they see the 28-year-old during the run-in as they feel he will get injured – his injury record shows that he is regularly in the treatment room.

With Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Pablo Fornals and Mark Noble currently seen as better options, and their WhoScored stats prove why this is, if Moyes does pick Wilshere and the East London side lose, then he could receive a lot of criticism from the fan base.

Here is what fans said following the news:

Hammers fans, would you like to see Wilshere involved when the Premier League returns? Comment below!

Glasgow Rangers have had their fair share of trouble with journalists over the past few weeks and months.

The ‘Gers have been taking the fight to the SPFL over what they believe to be corruption from the governing body in Scottish football, but not everyone backs their beliefs. They have had problems with the likes of Keith Jackson and Graham Spiers in particular over their reporting of the troubles in Scottish football following the suspension to the season north of the border.

It now appears that journalist Kheredine Idessane is feeling the wrath of some supporters of the Ibrox outfit. On Saturday, he spoke on Twitter about Hearts and Partick Thistle’s case against the SPFL, and he said that there is no appeal possible – before then directly mentioning three cases in which an appeal could be conducted.

This has not gone unnoticed by these ‘Gers supporters who have taken to the social media platform to share their thoughts. You can see some of the best comments below:

‘Gers fans, were you angered by Idessane’s tweet? Let us know what you think by commenting below!

Gustavo Hamer’s arrival at Coventry City from PEC Zwole has seen Dutch giants Feyenoord receive a sum of €300,000 (£270k).

The 23-year-old defensive midfielder became Mark Robins’ first signing ahead of their return to the Championship after gaining promotion from League One to the Championship via the automatic route.

Hamer, born in Brazil, has plenty of experience having featured for Feyenoord, where he developed through the various youth sides and made his official debut against Ajax in 2017.

Having featured for Feyenoord at youth level, the move to Coventry has now seen the Dutch Eredivisie side pick up a sell-on clause.

Hamer joined Coventry for a reported €1.5m (£1.35m), putting pen to paper on a three-year-deal, seeing him commit to the club until July 2023.

Former club Zwolle signed Hamer from Feyenoord back in 2018 for just £270,000 and that will now be paid back to Feyenoord as part of his initial deal.

Hamer is not the only new face to join the Sky Blues after Julien Costa moved to the Midlands earlier this week.

A nice little pay out for Feyenoord which is only right nowadays for clubs who develop players. Overall, Hamer looks set to be a good signing for Coventry and his arrival is exciting for Mark Robins and the club’s fans.

Coventry are going to approach the Championship in the best condition they can under Robins, who should be given a lot more credit for the job he has done with the Sky Blues.

Do you think Hamer will be a good signing for Coventry? Let us know in the comments section below…

According to The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans, Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz will be “hot property in the weeks ahead”.

What’s the word?

The Brazilian only arrived from fellow Premier League side Manchester City last summer, and has established himself as a key part of Dean Smith’s starting eleven – he started the last 14 top-flight games for Villa, and missed just two games in the competition all season.

And now Evans has claimed that the midfielder has hugely impressed him, particularly following the Premier League’s restart, and suggested that he even looks ready to take a step up.

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He said: “Since June, he has been sensational. If there was a Project Restart team of the season, Luiz would be sitting pretty in the midfield alongside the top-flight royalty of David Silva and Bruno Fernandes.

“That he was able to maintain such high levels in all 10 of Villa’s remaining games shows the level he’s now at. The 22-year-old will be hot property in the weeks ahead and it wouldn’t be overselling it to say that he now looks ready for an elite club.”

Keeping hold of star players

Jack Grealish may be the man on everybody’s lips at Villa, but Luiz has certainly proven that he is also a vital part of the first-team at the club.

Having survived relegation from the Premier League on the final day, Smith will be hoping that he can keep the core of his squad together. Seeing both Grealish and Luiz however would raise serious concerns about whether Villa can take a step forward next season.

Grealish might dominate the headlines this summer, but keeping hold of Luiz could be just as important.

Everton could well have a new striker on their books next season – that’s if new reports are to be believed.

What’s the word?

According to Express, who cite sources in Colombia, the Toffees are one of a few Premier League sides hot on the pursuit of Koln talisman Jhon Cordoba.

It’s claimed that Wolves and Sheffield United are also keen and that he could even be available for a bargain price due to his contract situation.

The same German outlet mooted a €20m (£18m) fee earlier this month and claimed such an amount would only be possible in England due to work permit regulations.

Ancelotti’s new Drogba?

Everton do not necessarily need a new forward with Carlo Ancelotti having the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Moise Kean at his disposal, but he may we be unable to refuse a move for the ‘next Didier Drogba’.

The former Chelsea legend won both the FA Cup and the league title under the Italian during the 2009/10 season and clearly learned a lot, claiming that he’d like to go into management one day himself.

Cordoba has regularly been likened to Drogba in the past due to his playing style – powerful, explosive and a natural finisher.

Per WhoScored, the 27-year-old provided 14 goals and two assists, averaging 2.1 shots, 0.9 key passes, 0.7 dribbles and a respectable 3.2 aerial duels won per game.

If the Colombian powerhouse were to come in, then you’d imagine it would decrease Keans’ chances of making much of an impact next term as he’s only bagged two goals during his short Goodison Park career – far less than DCL and Richarlison hitting 13 apiece.

On the face of it, a swoop for Cordoba at just £18m could be a bargain, especially if he really is similar to Ancelotti’s old talisman, Drogba.

Adding him to the aforementioned striking crop of Toffees stars would also aid their bid for a European push next season.

AND in other news, Everton must reignite their interest in RELEGATED man now Hojbjerg’s out of the picture…