European Leagues

£700,000-a-week deal: Klopp admits ‘surprise’ to Henderson’s controversial move

Jurgen Klopp has admitted he was surprised that Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson decided to leave the club to complete a £700,000-a-week deal at Al Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.

Henderson, 33, ended his 12-year spell at Liverpool by securing a £12 million move to the Saudi club. Henderson signed a three-year contract with Al Ettifaq, who are managed by former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard.

The England international’s decision to make the move has resulted in a backlash from LGBTQ+ groups who have accsued Henderson of hypocrisy for moving to a country where homosexuality is illegal after previously using his platform to stand up for their rights.

Liverpool manager Klopp has also revealed that the club were keen to keep the midfielder but were not going to stand in his way.

“Was I surprised when Henderson said he wanted to move on? Of course, we had a relationship for eight years. He knew the situation that we wanted to keep him but if he wanted to leave we weren’t going to throw rocks and stones in the way. It was about reacting to it.

“Jordan will miss us and we will miss him. We have to go on and we will. That is clear.”

Thomas Hitzlsperger, a former Premier League footballer who is openly gay, hit out at Henderson’s move by tweeting: “So Jordan Henderson finally gets his move to Saudi. Fair play to him, he can play wherever he wants to play. Curious to know though how the new brand JH will look like. The old one is dead! I did believe for a while that his support for the LGBTQ community would be genuine. Silly me.”

Henderson has become just one of many Premier League players to make the switch to the Middle Eastern country this summer, with former Liverpool teammate Roberto Firmino already joining Al Ahly and Fabinho set secure a £40 million move to Al Ittihad.

All three exits have been a part of a midfield overhaul at Anfield this summer with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Kieta also leaving the club. The club have already signed RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai and Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister coming in.

But having already had bid turned down for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, Klopp also admitted the club are looking to strengthen further in midfield this summer. Speaking on the club’s pre-season tour in Singapore, he said: “It’s definitely important to strengthen in midfield. We have to do something, that is clear. We are working on solutions. First people want changes, now everyone is worrying about the changes. We are really optimistic about it. Excited as well.”

LaLiga

How Xabi Alonso’s Tactics Will Reshape Real Madrid

Xabi Alonso used a different formation and tactics than Carlo Ancelotti. He will be bringing fresh ideas to Real Madrid, but can those help the club improve?

It’s tough being a manager at Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti won the Champions League and the La Liga with the Spanish team last season, but they have decided to move on from him after failing to win either of the two in the ongoing season.

Real are already out of the Champions League. They lost to Arsenal in the quarter-finals and La Liga leaders Barcelona are ahead of them by seven points and only three games left.

Real are now set to appoint former midfielder Xabi Alonso as their new manager, while Ancelotti joining the Brazilian national team is almost a certainty .

Alonso had been Bayer Leverkusen’s coach in the Bundesliga since October 2022. Under the Spaniard, Leverkusen won the Bundesliga title for the first time in 2023-24.

At Leverkusen, Alonso also won the 2023-24 DFB Cup and the 2024 Supercup besides the Bundesliga while setting the European record for consecutive unbeaten competitive games (51).

Firstpost.com

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Romanian Referee To Handle PSG-Inter Champions League Final

Romanian Istvan Kovacs will be the main referee for the UEFA Champions League final between Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan, which will be played on May 31 in Munich.

The match will be Kovacs’ third European final in the last 4 years. The 40-year-old referee has previously officiated the UEFA Europa Conference League final in 2022 (the first edition of the competition), disputed between Roma and Feyenoord 1-0, and the UEFA Europa League final in 2024 between Atalanta and Leverkusen 3-0.

This season, Kovacs has refereed 7 other Champions League matches.

He will be assisted by linesmen Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi. The fourth official will be Bruno Alves Jesus from Portugal. In the VAR room will be Dennis Higler (Netherlands), Cătălin Popa, and Paulus von Boekel, according to FRF.

UEFA has also announced the referee teams for the other European competition finals. Felix Zwayer (Germany) will officiate the Europa League final, Tottenham – Manchester United (May 21), Ivana Martinčić (Croatia) will officiate the Women’s Champions League final, Arsenal – Barcelona (May 24), and Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina) has been appointed for the Conference League final, Chelsea – Real Betis (May 28). Additionally, this year’s Nations League final will be refereed by Sandro Schärer (Switzerland).

PSG secured their spot in the final after completing a 3-1 aggregate win over Arsenal, while Inter narrowly beat Barcelona for its place. The clash between the two established teams promises to offer much enjoyment to football fans.

Romania-insider.com

Premier League

Can You Name The 30 Highest-scoring African Players In EPL History?

There have been some amazing African goalscorers during the Premier League era – but how many of the 30 highest-scoring players from the continent can you name?

The continent has been a reliable source of Barclays legends throughout the last 30-odd years, with plenty of African players becoming worldwide names by banging in the goals on our shores.

From trophy-guzzling machines to cult heroes in some unexpected places, we’ve seen a wide variety of African footballers grace the Premier League since 1992 – but how many of the top 30 goalscorers from the continent can you remember?

There are some truly legendary names here, so we’re expecting a good score. We’ve even given you the clubs they played for and their total goals as clues, so there’s no excuse.

You’ve got 15 minutes to name the top 30 and the score to beat from our office is 27/30. An asterisk denotes the player that is still active in the Premier League.

If this gives you the taste for another quiz, have a go at naming the highest-scoring South Americans in PL history.

Planetfootball.com