While the summer is still a long way off, the fact that it will soon be January 1st means that the very first (and largest) transfer dominoes are about to start wobbling.
From that date, players with contracts which expire in the summer can legally start speaking to teams in Europe, and there’s nowhere this is more relevant than Liverpool.
They’ve got 3 key first team players out of contract in the summer – Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
While the first two look more likely to eventually find an agreement with the Reds, the prevailing wisdom right now seems to be that Alexander-Arnold is keen to leave and try something new. Real Madrid are heavily linked.
More Stories about Malo Gusto
Malo Gusto's heatmap compared to last season:
A Chelsea flag in the evening at Stamford Bridge.
Enzo Maresca in his press conference after Chelsea win over Panathinaikos.
Where do Chelsea come into this? Well according to a story by our writer Simon Phillips, if Trent goes Liverpool have a very interesting option they will consider replacing him with.
Malo Gusto trains at Cobham.
Malo Gusto trains at Cobham.
Gusto on the list for two top teams – but Chelsea aren’t selling
Malo Gusto has only been at Chelsea for 18 months, but has already had quite an up-and-down time. He was brilliant for a while, and the shining light when we were really bad, but now he’s struggling a bit. He’s maybe the only player who seemed to enjoy playing under Mauricio Pochettino more than Enzo Maresca.
Phillips says that both Liverpool and Man City are keen on Gusto, but Chelsea have “zero” interest in selling the youth France star.
It’s noted that while Chelsea are “keen for Gusto to improve his end product in attack,” they want to make him better not sell him.
At the moment, the Blues should be looking to sign a right back to help share the load with Gusto, not replace him.
However it’s a very interesting rumour which has come from nowhere and we’ll keep an eye on.