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Hello! You know what they say. Don’t cry because it’s ending. Smile because it happened.
On the way today:
😔 Liverpool and Klopp. Game over?
👀 Mbappe ending careers before they begin
💰 Who lives in an £800m ($1bn) home like this? NYCFC…
🏡 Xavi staying at Barcelona
Klopp’s ‘Last Dance’ looking unlikely at Liverpool
All good things are destined to end. Like Jurgen Klopp’s record at Goodison Park. Like Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool.
True, Liverpool aren’t finished. Not mathematically. It’s three points to the top of the Premier League table, or four if we factor in Arsenal’s goal difference.
But losing away at Everton — their Merseyside rivals who took a step closer to survival — last night, the derby Klopp had never lost at Goodison in all his time, is probably the end for him. He knows it, and so do Liverpool.
Were the title a two-horse race, he could pray for salvation. But Arsenal and Manchester City — who are a point behind Klopp’s side with two games in hand — both imploding in the few games that are left? We’re somewhere between no chance and none.
How quickly this turned — from a near-flawless run of results to a chaotic FA Cup defeat to Manchester United in mid-March which provoked a chain of negative reactions.
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Klopp said he was resigning because he was weary. Liverpool, in tandem and as a project, have begun to look weary too. And suddenly in need of the reset that’s coming their way.
Do players ‘really want to win the league’?
Two post-match comments at Goodison jumped out at me. The first was Klopp describing Liverpool’s counter-pressing as “horrible”. That’s an indictment of one of their biggest strengths under him.
The second was Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk questioning whether they “really want to win the league”. Which was him on the verge of saying no — and conceding that they won’t.
From the moment Klopp announced he would resign at the end of the season, this became his version of ‘The Last Dance’, that immense documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The month behind Klopp has been more like Netflix’s Tour De France series: an elite rider broken by a Hors Categorie climb.
Klopp’s record as he prepares to bow out: seven major trophies in just under nine years, including a Premier League and a Champions League. Understanding him as we do, he’d have wanted more.
But he had the misfortune of coming up against a Manchester City team beyond compare and despite that, he took Liverpool back to the top table. Anfield’s love has been well-earned.
How to Slot in?
Perhaps there is an upside to Liverpool’s downturn.
Klopp no longer looks like an impossible void to fill. Liverpool no longer look like they are losing a coach at his absolute peak. His expressions of fatigue sound honest, and are reflected in his body language.
Perhaps, on reflection, a new broom is just the ticket.
Liverpool are fishing for Feyenoord’s Arne Slot. They got nowhere with a first offer of just under £8million ($10m) but last night’s defeat will only deepen their resolve in negotiations.
Until very recently, replacing Klopp resembled a hospital pass. As it is, and as James Pearce writes, a rebuild is now much easier to embrace. It’s been some ride for Liverpool. But nothing lasts forever.
- WATCH: Brighton and Hove Albion vs Manchester City, 3pm ET / 8pm UK. Premier League. USA Network, Sky Sports
Mbappe’s masterful ‘megs + assist
Thoughts and prayers with Nathaniel Adjei. There he was, minding his own business with Lorient in France, when Kylian Mbappe made his name go viral.
You might remember the piece we did recently on the Chigwada spin: a mad bit of skill by Manchester City youngster David Chigwada. Watch it 10 times and you still won’t be sure exactly how he pulled it off.
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Mbappe does tricks like that in his sleep and here he is destroying Adjei with a brutal nutmeg (more on the art of the nutmeg here) in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 away win last night. I hate to say it but Adjei, who’s only 21, might just have experienced the most high-profile moment of his career.
(Video is here for readers in U.S)
Xavi U-turn
From the vaults of the unexpected — Xavi is staying on as Barcelona manager next season.
Why unexpected? Because he announced that he was quitting a while back and has given the impression of being thoroughly sick of life at Camp Nou, calling it a ‘cruel job’. Ever heard of the Barca entorno?
Not only that, in the past week Barca have dropped out of the running in La Liga and the Champions League. But an emergency meeting with president Joan Laporta turned everything on its head. We’re expecting a formal announcement today.
This got me thinking. If U-turns are in vogue, any chance that Bayern Munich go into reverse gear with Thomas Tuchel?
One To Watch
If you don’t know who the Championship’s player of the year is then really, you should.
It’s Crysencio Summerville, the 22-year-old Dutch winger who has driven Leeds United’s frantic pursuit of promotion. Just the 19 league goals and nine league assists so far, from a player who barely cost seven figures.
I’ve written about the making of him, along with Nancy Frostick, and his trademark goal — cutting in off the wing, teeing the ball up and curling it deftly inside the far corner. It’s art, and it’s been on repeat all season (see above).
You can buy tickets to your favorite global football matches here.
(Top picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
