With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and Germany, global football is currently suspended. The Premier League has been given the all clear by the government to restart in June, behind closed doors, and today brought news that training, in small groups, can now resume.
However, there are still plenty of questions to be answered when it comes to Project Restart, and we’ll learn more as the days and weeks go by. Until football actually returns, we still have plenty of news items to cover. So let’s take a spin through the Liverpool community in cyberspace.
We start wherelse, but with the latest pundity and speculation on the Timo Werner transfer saga. It is widely believed that a.) the Reds are in pole position to acquire the RB Leipzig striker and b.) questions persist as to how he would fit into the team.
It’s hard to believe that Werner would find a place in the first team ahead of the front three: Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. Liverpool legend Jan Molby believes Werner will head to Anfield, but that one or two players will be leaving in corresponding moves.
“Yes I do [think Werner will come],” he said to Hotel Tia.
“I don’t think there’s going to be an awful lot of transfers happening this forthcoming summer, but I think that in many ways suits Liverpool.
“They’ve got a very strong squad at the moment. There will be one or two players leaving, but we’ve got some young players that need to be introduced into the squad.
“So if Liverpool cannot spend any money I don’t think it will be a big problem.
“Timo Werner eventually I think will come. I think his preferred choice is Liverpool.”
“Also when I look at him, he is a top, top player, but I couldn’t see him playing for Barcelona because they play in a different way, they play possession-based football. That is not his game. His game is exactly what we are all about.”
Shifting from potential new strikers to past centre-forwards, what will become of Daniel Sturridge now?
Trabzonspor, his last stop, voided his contract after he was banned from global football until mid-June, due to his involvement in a gambling scandal. Guilty of what is essentially the football equivalent of insider trading, his next club is now taking a risk on his character, as well as the question mark surrounding his health.
Still, he can bring it when he’s fully fit, and score in bunches when provided the right opportunity. Can’t wait to see him do his trademark goal celebration dance again.
He once team with Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling to form the entertaining Three-Ss attack that took Liverpool to the league title doorstep in 2013-14.
According to Goal, he’s already in America, preparing for a possible summer transfer to DC United or Inter Miami. Yes, his next move is reportedly to MLS.
Finally, while Liverpool winning their first league title since 1990 is a foregone conclusion at this point. They may not get a trophy presentation, says Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.
Really? All that wait, and this is what happens?
It just doesn’t seem possible right now, given the social distancing guidelines required to try and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If at all possible, yes [we want a trophy presentation],” Masters said on a conference call today.
“We would like to have a trophy presentation to give the players and staff the moment they have worked so hard for.”
“We would try to do it unless it wasn’t possible because of safety concerns.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.