Kerkez gave Liverpool the best possible week
Hungary beat Georgia 1–0 in the Nations League on Friday, and the winner was scored by Milos Kerkez (16). The left-back then left the Hungary camp before the final match of the break, an early return to Merseyside (13) (16) (25). With Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, October 11, that is exactly the kind of break a manager wants from an international window. Kerkez gets extra recovery days. Liverpool get their left-back back in the building while City are still counting theirs.
The detail underneath matters more than the headline. Kerkez has been the quiet part of Liverpool's season, the one position where the answer has not been in doubt. A defender scoring the winner for his country in a tight Nations League game is a defender in form. Whether Arne Slot uses him for all ninety minutes against City or manages his load, he arrives at the biggest fixture of the autumn having just won a match with his national team.
The Jacquet signing looks better every week
Jeremy Jacquet cost £60m, and the recruitment path that delivered him ran through Leny Yoro talks that went nowhere (2). That is how good scouting departments work: they lose one target and arrive at a better one. Jacquet has said playing alongside Virgil van Dijk is "something truly grand" (4, 2, 4 link to fan reaction). Zinedine Zidane has already called him out publicly after France 1–1 Italy in the Nations League (15). A 20-year-old centre-back with a Zidane endorsement and Van Dijk as a daily tutor is not a squad filler. He is the plan.
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The club is not finished there. Tottenham have refused to sell Micky van de Ven and Liverpool may return next year (17) (5). Giovanni Leoni is attracting Juventus interest and loan bids, and Liverpool are braced for offers (3) (12). Ronald Araujo has impressed at right-back on loan, which forces a decision on a $62m option (11). Four centre-backs, four unresolved futures. Liverpool are not short of defenders, they are short of certainty about which four they keep.
The Chiesa question has an answer coming
Federico Chiesa is open to a Serie A return, with Inter, Atalanta and Lazio all following him (1) (14). He has played almost no minutes this season and the Italian window will be interested in January. That is a decision Liverpool should make quickly, either to use him or to sell him, because a winger who cannot get on the pitch is an asset losing value weekly. Meanwhile Chelsea lead Liverpool and Arsenal for Alex Scott, and Real Madrid have now entered that race (7) (19). Midfield is where the squad still feels one body light.
What to watch
Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, October 11, then LASK Linz away in the Champions League on October 14 and Brentford away on October 17. Kerkez arriving early is the first good news of the week. Jacquet against Erling Haaland would be the second.
Liverpool sit sixth with nine points from five games, form D W W D W, +3 goal difference. Three points against City pulls them into the top four conversation. A defeat leaves the gap open into a genuinely hard October.
