Liverpool anti-crisis plan

In the course of this season, the reigning champion of England found himself in a difficult position.

Due to the super-busy schedule, Liverpool constantly lost players due to injuries, and up to eight players could be in the infirmary at the same time.

At the same time, the most difficult situation was with the center of defense: at the end of October, Virgil van Dijk tore the cruciate ligament, and a month later he injured his knee and Joe Gomez was eliminated before the end of the season.

Until the last days of January, Joel Matip, as well as the nominal defensive player Fabinho, helped to get out of the difficult situation, but in early 2021, the Cameroonian was also damaged.

Ankle problems have put an end to his return to the field in the current championship.

The Merseysides found themselves without experienced central defenders and were forced to look for a replacement as soon as possible.

As a result, the team was joined by Ozan Kabak from Schalke and Ben Davis from Preston.

Moreover, inviting both to the club cost almost nothing.

According to Transfermarkt, the promising Turk was rented out until the end of the season (€ 1.1 million), and the Englishman, famous for his performances in the Championship, was bought for very modest money (€ 570 thousand).

Nevertheless, such transfers are unlikely to be able to at least partially compensate for the absence of van Dijk, Gomez and Matip.

The 20-year-old Kabak, although it has solid potential, has not yet been able to fully reveal it.

On the one hand, at such a young age, he established himself at the heart of the German championship club.

On the other hand, after 19 rounds, his former club Schalke is in last place in the standings and is the most conceding team in the Bundesliga.

As for Davis, his purchase seems strange at all, because the 25-year-old defender has never played at the Premier League level in his career.

Until 2017, he traveled on leases, until he made his way to the base of his native Preston.

Van Dyck's return is only scheduled for April, and until then Liverpool will have to rely on these players.

Fabinho, who has shown himself well in the center of defense and will certainly continue to play in this position, will certainly help both to get used to it.

However, the prospects of the Merseysiders in the fight for the Premier League championship and the Champions League trophy seem extremely vague.

Especially considering that the center-back Sepp van den Berg and the attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino were loaned.

Temporary boosts at Atlético and Arsenal

If Liverpool is trying with all its might to defend the championship title, then Atlético is heading towards winning the trophy.

Diego Simeone's squad completed the first round in the rank of leader and are ten points ahead of their closest rivals from Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​with a match in hand.

Madrid have the most effective offense in the league, but they are not going to stop there.

This is evidenced by the decision to rent Lyon forward Moussa Dembele.

The Frenchman had a shock in the previous two seasons, scoring a total of 47 goals in all tournaments, but after joining the coaching bridge Rudy Garcia began to increasingly find himself in the reserve.

This manifested itself at the end of the last championship, and in the current tendency has only strengthened.

At the moment, Dembele has 16 matches played, but only in six of them he appeared on the field from the first minutes.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the striker decided to change the situation and go to the capital of Spain.

At Atlético, he is unlikely to be a starting player.

This place is tightly occupied by Luis Suarez, currently the leader in the Example scorers race.

Nevertheless, Dembele will surely receive practice regularly.

It is not easy for the 34-year-old Uruguayan to endure all 90 minutes, as a result of which he rarely stays on the field until the final whistle.

This season, he spent 19 meetings in total, in 15 cases he was replaced, and once again he left the bench only in the middle of the second half.

Much more talked about was Martin Edegaard's move to Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta's team needed a creative footballer who could both independently propel the ball forward and take the attackers into striking positions.

A talented Norwegian meets all these requirements.

According to the results of the last championship in Spain, he took eighth place in passes that advance the ball at least nine meters to someone else's goal (progressive passes), ninth in key passes, and in passes into the penalty area he lost only to Jesus Navas and Lionel Messi.

The "Gunners" have long lacked a performer of such a plan.

Formally, it was Mesut Ozil, but due to a conflict with the leadership, the German was first transferred to the reserve, and then completely withdrawn from the composition.

In the short term, Edegor will probably be able to successfully compensate for the lack of a playmaker, but it is difficult to count on more.

So, “Real” refused to include a buyout option in the lease agreement, as a result of which the Norwegian will return to the “Santiago Bernabeu” in the summer.

Departures of Gomez and Ozil

As for Ozil himself, his seven-year stay in London came to an end.

The midfielder secured the cancellation of his contract with Arsenal and moved to Turkey as a free agent.

The German signed a contract with Fenerbahce for 3.5 years, and according to Kicker, his salary will be € 3 million. And this is not counting the signing bonus of € 550 thousand.

Ozil practically did not play with Arsenal last year.

If last season he played 23 matches in all tournaments in total, scoring a goal and three assists, then this one did not even get into the application.

According to unconfirmed reports, this happened due to the conflict between the football player and the management of the club represented by Stan Kronke, which flared up during the pandemic.

Unlike his teammates, the German did not agree to cut wages, which was negatively perceived by the bosses.

The midfielder was the second highest paid player not only in the team, but in the league as a whole.

According to media reports, he received £ 350 thousand a week, second only to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£ 375 thousand) in this indicator.

Tensions have led to Alejandro Gomez's departure from Atalanta.

True, in this case there was a conflict between the player and the coach.

During the match of the fifth round of the Champions League group stage with FC Midtjylland, the Argentine disobeyed Gian Piero Gasperini and refused to act on the right flank of midfield, which is why he was replaced during the break.

Subsequently, the midfielder twice entered the field in the form of Bergamask, but was soon removed from the composition.

During the month it was reported that the main contenders for Gomez are Juventus and Inter, but Atalanta refused to strengthen direct competitors in Serie A. As a result, Alejandro ended up in Sevilla, and the transfer amount was € 5. 5 million, according to Transfermarkt.

Nevertheless, its prospects in the new location seem dim.

At least for the reason that it will be difficult for him to find a place in the scheme.

Yulena Lopetegui's squad uses a 4-3-3 formation with two center and one pivot midfielder, two wingers and one clean forward.

The Argentinean is used to playing the role of an attacking midfielder and actually acting as a "free artist".

Thus, the Spanish specialist will either have to adjust the tactical pattern or force Gomez to change his style.

Given the fact that this was the reason for the conflict with Gasperini, such a development of events seems unlikely.

New partners for Miranchuk and Golovin

Atalanta has already managed to find, if not a full-fledged replacement for Gomez, then at least acquire a player in position.

It was Shakhtar's attacking midfielder Viktor Kovalenko, who cost the Bergamasks only € 700,000, according to Transfermarkt.

Thus, the competition for the right to play under the striker in tandem with Josip Ilicic has increased even more.

In addition to the Ukrainian, Oleksiy Miranchuk, Ruslan Malinovsky, Matteo Pessina and Remo Freuler claim this place.

In Amsterdam, however, they prepared for the departure of Quincy Promes.

At the moment, negotiations with Spartak have not been completed, but Promes' place in the roster has already been taken.

Ussam Idrissi was taken on loan from Sevilla to the position of Ajax's left winger, and Sebastian Alla was bought in the center.

Moreover, the transfer of the latter became one of the two most expensive in the winter transfer window.

According to media reports, West Ham received € 22.5 million for the transfer of the Ivorian, which it immediately spent on the acquisition of Said Benrahm from Brentford (€ 23.1 million).

Next in the ranking of the most expensive transfers of the winter, according to Transfermarkt, are the transfer of Amada Diallo from Atalanta to Manchester United (€ 21 million), as well as an upgrade in the class of Dominik Soboslai, who replaced Salzburg with Leipzig (€ 20 million).

The same cost for Monaco to move Crepin Diatta from Brugge.

The Senegalese became the only Monegasque signing and is seen as strengthening the attacking line.

This season, the forward played 19 matches and scored 12 points (10 + 2) according to the "goal + pass" system.

Russian fans may remember him from the meeting of the first round of the Champions League group stage with Zenit, in which he spent 78 minutes on the field.

Preparing Schalke for survival

After 19 rounds, Christian Gross's charges are in an extremely difficult situation.

With eight points, they are in last place in the Bundesliga standings, and nine points separate them from the transition zone.

The situation is only getting worse due to the loss of the main defender - Kabak, as well as promising Rabbi Matondo and Ahmed Kutuchu, who went on loan to Liverpool, Stoke City and Heracles, respectively.

At this difficult moment, the Gelsenkirchen team turned to the help of veterans, two of whom had previously defended the club's colors.

Seyad Kolasinac left Arsenal on loan, and Klas-Jan Hüntelaer, who was planning to end his career in his native Ajax, personally asked to let him go to Schalke.

Another former "gunner" Shkodran Mustafi, who had previously represented Hamburg, followed the same route.

The only exception was the signing of 25-year-old defender William from Wolfsburg.

At the moment, only Kolashinac managed to fully express himself in the new team.

The defender played four games and helped Schalke score half of the total points.

In the very first game with his participation, Hoffenheim was defeated and a losing streak of 30 meetings was interrupted, and then a draw with Werder Bremen was obtained (1: 1).