Your morning Liverpool digest on Thursday, June 22.
Jorg Schmadtke to launch next stage of Liverpool transfer rebuild as scouting mission expected
Having come out of retirement to join Liverpool as sporting director at the start of the month, it was inevitable Jorg Schmadtke would be linked with moves for some of the players he has previously worked with.
Schmadtke retired in January but was coaxed out of it by the lure of succeeding Julian Ward at Anfield and the former Wolfsburg man now faces the most sizable task of his career after signing a short-term deal to oversee the restructuring this summer.
Links have raged all month following Schmadtke's appointment, with one in particular arriving from his homeland regarding Wolfsburg's pacey defender Micky van de Ven.
Van de Ven has been linked with a switch to Merseyside amid reports Liverpool are assessing the merits of a host of young centre-backs this summer. With the likes of Khephren Thuram (22), Manue Kone (22), Gabri Veiga (21), Ryan Gravenberch (21) and Romeo Lavia (19) all under consideration as part of a midfield rebuild, the Reds have clearly outlined a younger profile this summer following the initial capture of Alexis Mac Allister, who turned 24 on Christmas Eve.
Paul Gorst has the full story, here.
Virgil van Dijk set for new Liverpool role after one final brutally honest admission
If Virgil van Dijk's latest post-match reaction wasn't the first time he had fronted up in the 2022/23 campaign, it was at least the Liverpool defender's last.
The Netherlands captain put on a brave face for the media for one final time after captaining his national side to a 3-2 defeat to Italy in the UEFA Nations League on Sunday.
As ever, it was a searing and unflinching appraisal from a player who sees it as his responsibility to give his verdicts in the immediate aftermath of unfavourable results.
“We are building something, but how we allow ourselves to be trumped, that should not happen to us and is very disappointing," he told NOS. “In the second half we took risks and things went better at times, but the first half is of course never allowed. It just wasn’t good enough. We should definitely look at this, especially in view of the important matches that are coming up.
“You also play for the honour and we are ashamed of how we played in the first half. We all need to take a very good look in the mirror. Things have to be very different in the next period, let’s focus on that.
“It took us two years to fine-tune a system, just like we have to do now. These matches should also be seen as a learning opportunity, but we must take big steps and take our responsibility”.
To read more, click here.
