LIVERPOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Richard Hughes is a big admirer of Roberto De Zerbi in the search for Jurgen Klopp’s successor… while Real Madrid interest in Trent Alexander-Arnold is no surprise

Liverpool spent the last fortnight sorting out their upstairs departments, with hires of CEO of Football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes, and now the Reds will set their sights on stepping up the renovation of the front of house.

And they are prepared to go to war with Bayern Munich, perhaps alongside other clubs in Europe’s elite, to get their man. Xabi Alonso remains the front-runner and Liverpool will fight for him despite noise in Germany that Bayern believe he is heading to Bavaria.

Reports in Germany have suggested that Alonso would prefer to stay in the Bundesliga but Liverpool have had little indication to lower their expectations. Instead, they will do battle with Bayern as both appear to have made Alonso their No 1 candidate.

The two clubs will battle and make pitches for Alonso and the manager himself will have the final say on his next destination, if he chooses to leave league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. He is not expected to be swayed by finances and will make his decision based on football matters.

Interestingly, both clubs are also keen on Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, too. New sporting director Hughes is a massive fan of the Italian and tried to bring him to Bournemouth when Scott Parker left the club two years ago, only for an ownership lag to thwart this charge.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is thought to be the club’s No 1 target – but they face a battle with Bayern Munich

Roberto De Zerbi is also under consideration and Hughes has previously sought to appoint him at Bournemouth

Hughes grew up playing in the Atalanta academy – coincidentally who Liverpool play next in the Europa League – and came up against De Zerbi many times in youth football when he was plying his trade for AC Milan’s colts.

De Zerbi has long been mentioned as a potential successor for Jurgen Klopp, albeit noise slightly died down during a tough start to 2024 for Brighton. But he will certainly be considered as part of the shortlist along with Sporting boss Ruben Amorim.

Liverpool want a young manager who can grow at the club, and also someone who plays attacking football and has a strong personality. Fans would prefer Alonso but the other two have made compelling cases with their bodies of work in recent years.

Amorim has been described by those close to him as a ‘master communicator’ – read a full profile of him on Mail Sport later this week – and it is believed he scored high on internal data tests led by Liverpool’s head of research Will Spearman.

The young Portuguese boss shares an agent with Liverpool forward Luis Diaz. Sporting would demand a world-record fee in compensation – Portuguese experts suggest this will be around £25million – if any club wanted to poach Amorim.

Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorin is also thought of very highly by the Liverpool hierarchy

But given Hughes’ history with De Zerbi, the former Brighton boss is certainly in the running too. Despite Bayern’s heavy interest in Alonso, the Spaniard is still the front-runner for the job at Anfield and Hughes has a good relationship with the Leverkusen manager’s agent, Inaki Ibanez.

The intermediary helped bring client Andoni Iraola to Hughes’ former employers Bournemouth. Liverpool are keen not to disrespect clubs by approaching their managers directly but there is a feeling they must step up their search soon to avoid being scooped by Bayern and Co.

April and May, therefore, will be key months of background talks. It would be heavily unlikely that any interview process would begin while the season is ongoing but groundwork is being done in both Liverpool and Munich to get their men.

Heartbreaking news this week as Liverpool fan Tom Dowling lost his battle with cancer, with his brother Jack a fitness coach at Everton who has completed 21 of 26 planned marathons to raise money for charity.

Just last week, Jack ticked off his 20th marathon by running half by himself and the other as part of the organised 13.1miler in Liverpool. The Evertonian has pledged to continue his cause despite the awful loss of his brother and pulled out No 21 on Sunday morning around Crosby.

Jack works as a Physical Performance Coach at Finch Farm and has so far raised more than £46,000 for Macmillan, a campaign that is forecast to finish at April’s London Marathon, with the target of raising north of £60,000.

The fundraiser showed the united power of two football clubs in the city, with Liverpool giving Tom the chance to tick off some of his dreams in his final months. He was invited to multiple games at Anfield and also went behind the scenes at the AXA Training Centre.

Everton’s Physical Performance coach, Jack Dowling (right) has been undertaking a formidable challenge to raise money for Macmillan in honour of his late brother Tom (centre)

‘Tom was so stoic in his diagnosis and made the most of every day,’ read a family statement. ‘He got to get his dream trip to New York, saw Liverpool’s new training ground and was invited to multiple games at Anfield to see his favourite team.

‘He has been Project 26:26’s biggest supporter when he can at most finish lines. Always my motivation and will be. He always wanted to share the message of Macmillan Cancer and what they do for all cancer patients.’

If you can, please donate to the Dowlings’ cause in memory of Tom and in strengthness to Jack, who will hopefully complete his challenge in the next month., via this link: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/JackProject2626

Most  of Liverpool’s stars jetted off around the world this week to take in some sight-seeing alongside several international friendlies. Jurgen Klopp was spotted by awestruck locals as he enjoyed a family holiday in Cornwall.

The German boss got a taste of what life will be like after this season as Klopp, who became a grandfather last year, spent some special time with loved ones and was even pictured on baby-sitting duties with his grandson pictured on his on-shoulder baby carrier.

Virgil van Dijk recently cited basketball legend LeBron James as an inspirational idol but it was team-mate Alexis Mac Allister who got up close and personal with ‘King James’, taking in an Los Angeles Lakers game while on down-time during Argentina’s camp in the States.

Several stars headed to Wembley for England’s loss to Brazil, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson present in the stands despite both being injured. Alexander-Arnold has been spending time doing rehab work and hopes to return to full team training in the next week or so.

Stefan Bajcetic, who has had a torrid time with injury this season, looked incredibly bulked up in a recent picture, though he enjoyed a trip to Paris and attended the Louvre museum among other sights.

Stefan Bajcetic used the international break to travel to Paris and visit the Louvre museum

Mohamed Salah meanwhile has been focusing on his fitness as he bids to return to his peak

Mohamed Salah, who was exempted from Egypt’s camp in Abu Dhabi after a back-and-forth between club and country, spent most of the time off working hard in the gym. He posted several selfies doing rehab work as he looks to return to peak physique for the title run-in.

Wataru Endo, meanwhile, got an unplanned break after Japan’s fixture against North Korea in Pyongyang was cancelled by FIFA. North Korea asked for the World Cup qualifier to be held at a neutral venue as they could not host the game due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’.

FIFA rejected this and ‘decided that the qualifying fixture shall neither be played nor rescheduled’. Reports in Asia have suggested the postponement was due to but reports suggested that the spread of group A streptococcus in Japan were behind the decision. It meant Endo could have an extended break instead of play two matches in quick succession 

Ibrahima Konate, who missed the last three Liverpool matches with a hamstring injury, is set to feature in France’s friendly against Chile on Tuesday night as he steps up his recovery.

He only narrowly missed out on the trip to Manchester United last weekend but Jurgen Klopp will be nervous over his fitness if he features in the relatively meaningless game for the French.

Speaking of Trent Alexander-Arnold, reports in Spain this week have heavily linked him with a move to Real Madrid. The Spanish giants’ interest is no real surprise, given his contract situation and the fact he is one of the world’s best players.

Indeed, there has been talk in football circles for several months that Real Madrid have courted Alexander-Arnold given his deal runs out at the end of next season. At this stage, there is nothing to seriously worry Reds fans and the player has given no indication he wants to join Real.

But it does remain a pivotal issue that new sporting director Richard Hughes will want to resolve before too long. Alexander-Arnold loves the idea of one day becoming captain at Anfield and was keen to be part of a new ‘cycle of success’ at the club starting last summer.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has been linked to Real Madrid as he enters last 18 months of his deal

Real Madrid, though, do have the pulling power of few clubs in the world. Alexander-Arnold has won nearly everything in England – the Europa League could complete the set of all available to a Premier League player – and so it is not fantasy to say he could be tempted away in the future.

But no indications of that have come yet. He is focused on getting back fit for a pivotal run-in for the Premier League title and Europa League. Although the international break came at a good time in terms of stars returning to health, it was probably bad timing for Liverpool’s Englishmen.

Alexander-Arnold would have surely featured in midfield alongside Declan Rice in one of the two friendlies against Brazil and Belgium. Team-mate Curtis Jones would have almost certainly made the squad for the first time, too, if it was not for his recent injury.

A theme of 2024 at Liverpool has been sons of famous footballers making their name at Anfield and the latest in that trend appears to be Djibril Cisse’s lad, Prince Kobe, who played for the Under 18s this weekend.

Prince Kobe Cisse (centre) has been featuring for Liverpool’s under-18 youth side this weekend

Cisse Jr featured as the youngsters defeated ISI Academy with a brace from Joe Bradshaw to go alongside a goal from Cody Pennington. Prince’s father Djibril scored in front of the Kop as part of the Liverpool Legends match.

His other son, Cassius Clay Cisse, is on the books of League Two outfit Notts County after spending some time at prestigious youth academy Crewe Alexandra. He has played for Wales youth teams given his mother, Jude Littler, was from there.

Meanwhile, Liverpool youngster Kyle Kelly played twice for St Kitts and Nevis in two games against San Marino this week. The 18-year-old midfielder has been impressing at Kirkby and played for the Under 21s recently.

Considering Kyle Walker has played with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Bernardo Silva for years at the Etihad Stadium, it was interesting to hear him hail Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold as the best passer of the ball he has ever seen.

‘Trent is a quarterback at right-back,’ said the Manchester City captain. ‘I’ve never seen anyone pass the ball like it. Left, right foot, snow on it when it needs to have snow on it, or ping straight to the chest.

Kyle Walker had high praise for his national team-mate Alexander-Arnold, particularly in light of his cohort at Manchester City

There was a sadly limited turn-out at the WSL Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Sunday 

‘I think people come at him for defending. But people can come at me for my crossing. Let’s just say that. I don’t think anyone’s going to really have the finished article. I think he’s improved massively on his defending, I think it comes with age as well.’

It was disappointing to see just 9,457 at Goodison Park as Liverpool played out a goalless draw with Everton in the Women’s Super League on Sunday, especially when you note the rise of the women’s game in other cities.

Arsenal have regularly sold out the Emirates Stadium for women’s fixtures and 40,086 were in the house for the Manchester Derby at City’s Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Everton marketed the game well but it did not have the same pull as other fixtures around the country.

The Merseyside Derby was also significantly down on last year’s 22,161 for the same fixture. Liverpool boss Matt Beard said: ‘It didn’t feel like a derby, to be honest with you. The pitch was heavy, the grass was long, so I think it slowed a lot of the play down for both teams.’