It continues to be a very exciting summer at Liverpool, with a whole lot going on at Anfield. The “biggest” of their preseason exhibition games (if you can call a friendly “big”) commences tomorrow, and with the International Champions Cup clash against Manchester United coming up there is certainly no shortage of topics to discuss today.
So let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet this Friday.
-Liverpool broke the all-time transfer fee record for a goalkeeper when they acquired Alisson from AS Roma last week, but Reds boss Jurgen Klopp says they would have had to spend even more than the £67 million they paid for the Brazilian, if they wanted to acquire Atletico Madrid shot stopper Jan Oblak. has an even pricier release clause.
“Everybody thinks it’s a lot of money. It is a lot of money, but he could’ve left for crazy money,” Klopp told ESPN.
“The clause for Oblak for example is €100m, so nice! And that’s it in this year where obviously a few things happen on the goalkeeper position. That’s part of the job, to try to bring the best players you can get. The goalkeeper market is different because it’s not each year that there is anybody available and stuff like that.”
“We didn’t know exactly if Alisson is available or not, but from a specific moment we realized obviously he is available and that’s what the moment when we decided we want to go for him.”
-Apparently, tickets for Saturday’s rivalry clash with United in Ann Arbor, Michigan aren’t selling as well as the previous two International Champions Cup clashes at Michigan Stadium. According to an email obtained by The Sports Bank the game’s hosts, the University of Michigan, are offering extremely cheap tickets to U of M students at the last minute.
Perhaps the novelty of staging international friendlies in “The Big House” is wearing off, as this is the third event the Univ. of Michigan has hosted in six years.
Additionally, any fan with basic acumen knows these ICC games will feature a lot of third and fourth-teamers; especially so in a World Cup year.
Also, it doesn’t help that United manager Jose Mourinho keeps complaining publicly about the current state of the roster that he has along with him on tour.
One guy who definitely will be there, and is very excited about the game, is Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh. At Big Ten media Day at Monday, Harbaugh discussed how much he’s looking forward to the game.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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