EMERGENCY MEETING! VIRGIL VAN DIJK TO CHALLENGE LIVERPOOL SQUAD FOLLOWING DISASTROUS BURNLEY DRAW RESULTS
Virgil van Dijk calls a high-stakes players' meeting after Liverpool's fourth straight draw. Get the latest on Salah's return.
Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s captain, plans to call another players’ meeting on Monday. The team’s push for a Champions League spot feels like it’s slipping, and he wants to tackle the problems head-on.
Van Dijk was furious after Liverpool let Burnley equalise at Anfield. Burnley barely threatened all game—except for one shaky five-minute spell in the second half—and yet Liverpool still ended up with just a draw. Four straight league draws now, something the club hasn’t suffered since 2008. He didn’t even stick around long in the dressing room; he bolted out to speak to the reporters, still fuming.
But the real reckoning comes Monday at the training ground. For the second time this season, Van Dijk’s going to challenge his teammates, just like he did after that ugly loss to Manchester United in October, right in the middle of an awful run.
“I’m frustrated that after 60 minutes we started to become sloppy, and it’s not the first time,” Van Dijk said, looking ahead to a huge Champions League trip to Marseille. “We’ve talked about it before, but here we are again. Monday’s meeting is a big one, because Wednesday’s game over there is going to be really tough—not just because of the atmosphere, but because De Zerbi’s teams always make life difficult.”
He’s not interested in making this about himself. He wants solutions. “It’s not about me calling it out. It’s about how we fix it. We all want to win, and we had more than enough chances against Burnley.”
The result didn’t go down well. The crowd made their feelings clear, jeering as Liverpool missed a chance to close the gap on Manchester City. Now they’re clinging to fourth place, just a point ahead of a whole pack—Manchester United, Chelsea, Brentford, Sunderland, and Newcastle are all close behind.
Van Dijk’s response to the boos? Short and sharp: “I don’t like boos from my own fans.”
He knows what’s at stake. If Liverpool keeps wasting chances, that fourth spot’s going to get harder to hold onto. “I don’t look at what everyone else is doing. We need to focus on ourselves. If we play as we did—wasting chances in the last half-hour—it’s going to be tough. We need to improve, not just watch the others.”
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Dominik Szoboszlai smashed a penalty off the crossbar, Florian Wirtz scored his fourth in six games, and Arne Slot’s side seemed set to take control. Liverpool fired off 32 shots but couldn’t find that crucial second goal. Then Marcus Edwards equalised with Burnley’s only shot on target.
There’s some hope: Mohamed Salah is set to return next week. Whether he’ll be ready for Marseille is still up in the air, after Egypt lost the AFCON third-place play-off on Saturday.
Salah left the club a month ago after a falling-out with Slot, frustrated and accusing the team of throwing him under the bus after a string of bad results landed him on the bench.
Van Dijk is clear about Salah’s value. “With his quality, he wins games for us. Off the pitch, he’s huge for the squad too. He couldn’t make the AFCON final, but when he’s back, we need him to help us.”
ALISSON "OPEN" TO LIVERPOOL EXIT AS JUVENTUS PREPARE MASSIVE SWAP DEAL OFFER
With Alisson Becker open to a Juventus move, Liverpool is scouring the market for a replacement ahead of a major summer rebuild.
Liverpool isn’t just sitting around; it’s actively searching for someone to take Alisson Becker’s spot since Juventus looks serious about making a bid for their veteran keeper. Even though Alisson’s got a year left on his deal after the club triggered an extension back in March, he might leave this summer.
He’s been Liverpool’s go-to guy in goal since he arrived from Roma in 2018; he’s played 332 games, cost £67 million, and for years, he was untouchable. But injuries have piled up during the 2025/26 season, and it’s starting to look like his time at Anfield could be coming to an end.
Juventus are now right in the mix. Apparently, Alisson isn’t against the idea of leaving Liverpool, and Juventus could even throw their own goalkeeper, Michele Di Gregorio, into the deal for the Brazilian.
Juve are ready to offer Alisson a contract running through the summer of 2028, with an extra year as an option. Sky Sports says Liverpool already knows what’s happening and is getting their ducks in a row before a massive transfer window.
The club’s facing a big summer. Salah and Robertson are going, and now they might need a new keeper too. Giorgi Mamardashvili has stepped up when Alisson was out, playing 18 games across all competitions, but he’s injured himself, leaving Slot with just Freddie Woodman as his only fit option.
Recently, Slot was asked if losing Alisson at the same time as Robertson and Salah would be too much. He said, “The club makes decisions it thinks are right. If this happens, there's a reason behind it, maybe another good reason why we did what we did.”
He pointed out that Liverpool doesn’t make transfers on a whim. Decisions are thought through, with the club’s interests always at heart.
Regarding keeping Alisson for his experience, Slot admitted that’s one argument, but there are others and, ultimately, the club will decide what’s best. Alisson’s contract still has a year left.
When pressed about Juventus, Slot replied, “Ali’s main focus is clear; he wants to get back in goal for Liverpool as soon as possible and then play for Brazil. That’s his short- and mid-term future.”
LIVERPOOL WARNED TO OFFER CURTIS JONES NEW CONTRACT BEFORE 14-MONTH DEADLINE
Analysis: Curtis Jones’ elite passing stats and why Jermaine Pennant believes Liverpool cannot afford to lose the versatile midfielder.
Liverpool really needs to sort out a new contract for Curtis Jones before they make the same mistake it did with Luis Diaz. That’s what the Inside Liverpool panel thinks, especially now that Diaz is lighting up Bayern Munich and making Liverpool’s transfer moves look pretty questionable.
Bayern’s front three, with Diaz in the mix, have racked up 100 goals across all competitions this season – the first time any non-Spanish team has done that. Diaz himself has bagged 26 goals in 46 matches and just scored against PSG in the Champions League semi-final.
Looking back, Liverpool probably wish they hadn’t let Diaz walk for £65 million last summer. Since then, fans at Anfield haven’t seen anyone who brings what he did: that relentless pressing, always looming as a threat on the counter. Sure, they’ve brought in Rio Ngumoha, a teenager, just 17, but Arne Slot, the coach, knows you can’t just expect him to fill those shoes right away.
On talkSPORT’s Inside Liverpool, Jermaine Pennant, who has played for the club, said that Liverpool has to bring in another proven attacker over the summer. Pennant’s point: Diaz was great whether he played in the middle or on the left, and Liverpool needs someone with that kind of flexibility. You don’t want to sign a backup like Hugo Ekitike and then end up overcrowding with too many strikers when the main guy returns.
Now, Jones could end up in the same boat this summer. There’s a lot of uncertainty around his future, and when you look at the numbers, he’s only got 14 months left on his contract. Several clubs in England and Europe are watching, and he’s only started 15 games for Liverpool this season.
Even though he hasn’t played much, Jones is impressing; he’s second only to Rodri in midfielder passes per 90 minutes in the Premier League. He’s also ranked second behind Moises Caicedo for passing accuracy, and right behind Rayan Cherki for carries. Pennant said the club can’t afford to let him go: Jones is so versatile; you can play him anywhere in midfield or even right back. He knows the club, loves it, and helps connect the squad.
Jones has been one of the top performers recently. Pennant thinks Liverpool should offer him a new deal, especially since the squad is thinning out and they’ve already lost Trent Alexander-Arnold. In the end, it’s up to Jones if he wants to stay or move for more game time, but Liverpool has to make the offer while they still can.
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