Ben Smith EditorI sat down with Stephen Warnock to get his take on the future of several Liverpool players — and whether Alexander Isak could be on the club’s radar
Jarrell Quansah started the first game of the season but has seen a reduction in minutes since. Do you think he'll grow frustrated or show patience and look to stay?
I think the big thing for him is patience, but it's very difficult. When you get a taste of first-team football, you feel you want more of it. It's very difficult training week in, week out, and then not getting a reward at the end of the week and not getting game time.
What he has to remember is he's got the captain of the football club in one of the positions, and a French international in the other position. So it's very difficult to dislodge both those players. He's had a sniff of international football as well, so he’ll feel like he'll want to play more to be able to get back into that England squad.
I think patience is the biggest key for him, but also learn from the other two guys who are in the position - what they do well and what they don't do well - and try and make those the strengths of your game as well.
I think the other side of it is, does Arne Slot really want him at the football club? Does he trust him? Does he think he's good enough?
Does he think maybe a year or two out on loan might help him progress a little bit further?
Often, centre-backs are a little bit more experienced when they go into those positions. I think you find that they often pick up the place around 23, 24 years of age because they've learnt a lot. Being bit part players and then coming in with a little bit more experience helps them.
Liverpool have been linked with a move for Milos Kerkez. Would he be happy coming in as an understudy to Andy Robertson, or would the expectation for such an expensive signing be for him to start?
It depends how the manager sees it - whether he sees it as Robertson would then be the backup or whether it be Kerkez who starts.
If you're paying that type of money, I think it'd probably be that he'd come in as the number one, and then Robertson would have to fight for the shirt or try and get his way into the team.
Andy Robertson would put up a fight and rightly so, because he's been incredible for eight years since he's been at the club.
But I think what you've got to understand is, when you're at Liverpool, if he does come in, is that you're going to share the load more, and that will breed success into the team.
It'll give you a higher level when you play. If you're playing 40, 50 games a season, by the time you get to March, April, May, your levels will have dropped to about 80% of your actual capability.
If you're rotating, and you're doing it consistently, and it's keeping the levels higher, then you're gonna be playing at 90, 95% come March, April, and May.
That helps the team members. There’s less of a drop-off, which gives you more opportunity to win trophies. But it's very difficult because you want to play week in, week out, and that's the hard part of it.
Do you think Liverpool will look to bring in a right-back to start, or promote Conor Bradley and bring in a back-up?
What you've seen with Conor Bradley is that the potential is there. He's got that quality when he gets on the ball, when he plays. The only thing that has probably gone against him at the moment is just the injuries that he's picked up.
The more consistently you play, the more minutes you get, the less you get injured because your body becomes more robust, it becomes stronger. He is probably going through that growing stage as well, his body is maturing, filling out, and a little bit more likely to pick up injuries.
I think the biggest thing I'd say to him is make sure you get in that gym in the summer and make sure that you strengthen yourself, get stronger.
You look at the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale when they go to Real Madrid, they almost turn into monsters, don't they? In the way that they hit the gym and suddenly, they're physically more strong and better specimens, if you like.
So I think he's got to look at that side of his game and think, if I want to be a number one regular for Liverpool, I've got to make myself ready week in, week out.
I go back to that word again, robust. You look at the best players in the world, the likes of Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Mohamed Salah - they are always available for selection. And that's not down to pure luck or coincidence. That's down to the hard work behind the scenes that goes on. I think he'll have to learn that side of the game.
Newcastle have a cushion in the race for Champions League football next season. Do you think it would make Liverpool’s pursuit of Alexander Isak more difficult if they do qualify?
It's an interesting one, because the argument from Newcastle is: "You want Champions League football, and we're going to give you that." I think the other argument from Liverpool would be: "We're going to compete for the Champions League. We're not just going to go into it - we're going to compete for it by bringing you in. We feel like we can compete and win that competition, but we can also win the Premier League, and we can reward you with trophies at the end of it."
Newcastle's argument will be: "Well, we've just won the Carabao Cup, and we're trying to build something special here. We feel that you're going to be part of that." But it's always difficult with a club like Liverpool, with the history that they've got, the name they've got around the world. Players grow up watching those teams from foreign countries because more often than not, they're the teams that are televised all the time.
I think it'll be very difficult for him to turn Liverpool down if there was a fee agreed. But it's just how much the fee will cost. Liverpool don't really go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on players.
We know they haven't spent in the last couple of transfer windows. They have good money this year from the Champions League and the new format, so there will be money available.
But [Slot] has got to be careful how he moves that money around if he is going to do a lot of work in the summer - and they are the rumours that we're hearing coming out of the club: that there will be quite a hefty transfer window this summer.
Last year, Anthony Gordon was one of the names most heavily linked with Liverpool. Could that one be revisited, bearing in mind Luis Diaz’s contract runs out in 2027?
Yeah, I think this is an interesting one because of the Isak situation. I just wouldn't see Newcastle selling two of their best players to Liverpool, and selling two of their best players within the same transfer window unless they've got adequate replacements, which will be very difficult unless that deal is done, or those deals are done very early in the transfer window.
I think Anthony Gordon is a brilliant player, I really do.
We have seen Gakpo play an awful lot this season under Slot on that left-hand side. Does he feel like he would be his number one, or would it be Díaz?
Or does he feel like Gakpo would then be a backup for striker, left side of midfield, or left wing position - and you do bring someone like Anthony Gordon in?
I think if Anthony Gordon did come into the football club, I think it'd be that Isak wouldn't join, and it'd be another striker.
It’s been difficult for Harvey Elliott to earn starts under Arne Slot, and there has been talk of a possible move away. What do you make of that?
I think it's been quite frustrating for him. I like Harvey Elliott. I think he's a brilliant footballer. For whatever reason, whether Slot just doesn't feel like he fits into the system that he wants to play, or doesn't see him as a central midfielder.
Because often when he's coming into games now, he's coming in a little bit higher up the pitch, and he's come on, obviously, against Paris Saint-Germain in that wide right position where Salah plays — but very difficult for him to dislodge someone like that.
However, he's another like Quansah. He's got so much time on his side that if he's happy to sit and wait and be patient at Liverpool, his time might come.
There might be discussions with the manager, that the manager just says, "You're not the type of player that suits my system," and it might be worth you moving on. They might look at the Harvey Elliott situation and think there's money to be raised there with a homegrown filter.
I think he falls under the homegrown category because he was bought in essentially as an academy player. I think that's right. So there will be decent profit on him if they were to sell him.
It's a difficult one again, because he's always positive when he comes onto the football pitch. He's always progressive when he comes on - tries things, not afraid to lose the ball and try and unlock defences. But again, if it doesn't suit the manager's system, it's a very difficult one to argue against.
Do you think Aston Villa will sign Marcus Rashford on a permanent deal, and what would that mean for Ollie Watkins?
I still don't see Marcus Rashford as a striker, but Unai Emery has been playing him through the middle and giving Ollie Watkins a rest - and I think it's a much-needed rest for Ollie Watkins. He’s shouldered the burden of being a striker for the last couple of years, or last four or five years at Villa, single-handedly and hasn't really had much rest.
What we saw at the weekend was a hungry Ollie Watkins coming onto the pitch against Southampton, and that pushed him a little bit with that competition for places. I think if you were to sign Marcus Rashford, what does that do for that left-hand side, or whether it changes the way that he rotates with Jacob Ramsey, what it does is it gives you squad rotation. It gives you that ability, because he can play left, and he can play through the middle.
The biggest question would be what the fee would be and what the wages would be for Aston Villa. At the moment, it's a loan deal - whether that was just to push themselves in the Champions League or to get themselves into those Champions League places - and then they would look for an alternative.
I think this is going to be so fascinating to see where it turns out. For Ollie Watkins, I think what it does is it helps him because it pushes him for competition. Competition's always healthy - whether you like it or not, it always spurs you on. Suddenly you're thinking: "Am I starting that weekend, am I not?" Training has to be better. When you come onto the pitch - whether you start or come on as a sub - you have to perform at a higher level, and I think that's a positive for the football club.
So I'd like to see them sign Marcus Rashford, I really would. But from a financial point of view, I think it's got to be right for the football club because if you start signing players on ridiculous amounts of money, you open the floodgates for everyone else, and then everyone else starts causing problems.
Both Manchester clubs have been linked with Morgan Rogers. Do you foresee a battle for Villa keeping him on board for next season?
I don't see him going to United, because at the moment Villa are in a better position. I don't care what the name is of Manchester United — if I was looking at them now, I'd be massively concerned going in there. My concern would be: players aren't improving. Players aren't getting better.
Whereas if you go to Manchester City, players improve under Guardiola. Yes, it's a difficult situation at the moment, but also the other side of it is: who's going to end up in those Champions League places out of City and Villa? Will either of them creep in, or will it be one or the other?
He'll want to play Champions League football as well next season, because I think what we've seen this season is he's very capable of playing at that level. I just don't think it'll just be those clubs. I think it'll be clubs from abroad as well. I think there'll be definitely suitors from La Liga — potentially maybe Italy — but definitely La Liga. I think they will be looking at him thinking he'd suit our style of play in Spain.
I think he's a brilliant, brilliant player. I'd love to see him stay at Villa, because I think the progress he's made under Emery — Emery improves players. He does make you a better player.
It was a difficult start for Valerien Ismael as Blackburn manager, but he earned his first win at the weekend. What are your thoughts on his ability to take the club forward?
It's been a difficult situation for Blackburn at the moment, losing John Eustace. I think they should have done all they could to keep hold of him. I think when you look at the situation at Birmingham and how they fell away, and now we're seeing at Blackburn how they're falling away - there's no doubting how good a manager John Eustace is. And you look at what he's done at Derby in a short space of time.
I didn't understand them not offering him a new contract. I think that's all John wanted at the football club - a little bit of backing from the ownership to almost reward him for what he'd done in a short space of time at Blackburn, which was keep them up last season and then put them in the playoff places this season.
Ismael - I thought it was a strange appointment. I thought it was a cheap appointment. I thought it was an easy option to go for someone like that. I think it says where the club is at the moment. Not offering Eustace a contract and going for someone who was out of work tells you that it was a cheap option.
So, lots of work to be done. Whether it's too late now to mount a challenge to get those playoff positions again - I think that's going to be difficult, but you just never know what is going to happen at that football club.
It's quite upsetting at times when you watch what's gone on at that football club since I've left it. I left during the era of the Walker family and the Walker Trust. And it was about six months later that it was sold to the Venky’s, and ever since, it's been the ups and downs and difficult times.
Leeds will almost certainly be back in the Premier League next season - what do they need to do in the summer to ensure they are well-equipped to stay up?
It'll be very interesting, I think, with the manager's situation. He's struggled when he's gone into the Premier League, Daniel Farke, and I just wonder whether the ownership might take a different view, that they want to bring someone else in to try and sustain that Premier League status.
I think the difficult thing is, when you go into the Premier League, not having a massive overhaul of your squad, because you want to keep that togetherness that got you out of the Championship and into the Premier League, if they do make it. But you've got to bring in star quality. Last time they came into the league, they signed Raphinha. What a signing that was. I mean, he effectively kept them in the Premier League in that first season because of the quality that he had.
So you've got to be very shrewd with your signings, but bring in star quality. I think you've got to bring in maybe four or five top-level players, and you've got to really push the boat out to get those top five players in. So when you go into games that are quite close, they can have that star quality to get you over the line.
I think they need a goalkeeper - desperately need a top-class goalkeeper. If you're going to go into the Premier League, you need a goalkeeper who will get you about 15 points a season, and that is vitally important when you're down at the bottom of the league. Someone who can produce those moments when games are very, very tight - who can produce an incredible save at important times.
The Meslier situation will have to be rectified, because obviously he's had a tough season this year, but they need quality there. It just depends on what the ownership does there. I know there are quite a few ownership marbles within the ownership of Leeds, so it'll be interesting to see how they all come together and try and align as well.