Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp provided a promising update on Virgil van Dijk, but he remains unsure when the star defender will return for the Premier League champions.

Van Dijk underwent surgery on his knee in October after suffering a serious injury in the Merseyside derby against Everton.

The Netherlands international has been missed by Liverpool, who are fourth and six points adrift of rivals Manchester United ahead of hosting Burnley on Thursday.

Klopp was upbeat about Van Dijk s rehabilitation, but he is unsure when the 29-year-old might return.

He looks really good, Klopp told a news conference.

I spoke this morning to him on the phone, he is in a really good mood so it s all very promising but I don t know when he will be back.

…

Inter Milan appear determined to add Romelu Lukaku to their team this summer. They have already had a €60 million bid rejected by Manchester United, and according to , they re preparing a new offer despite their belief that the opening one was a fair estimation of the player s value.

The second, apparently imminent bid, will still fall short of United s valuation which amounts to £79 million, but the Nerazzurri are hopeful the Premier League club s stance will be softened by it. Lukaku arrived to Old Trafford from Everton for £75 million back in 2017, and has scored 42 goals in 96 appearances for the Red Devils since then.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has preferred young Marcus Rashford in the central attacking role since he replaced Jose Mourinho in the dugout…

Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano claims Liverpool haven t made any move towards signing Aaron Ramsey from Juventus this summer, despite recent rumours suggesting otherwise, though he admits the Welsh midfielder could leave Turin.

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1375252492146053126

Liverpool are facing the prospect of losing Georginio Wijnaldum whose contract expires at the end of the season, and the likelihood of the Dutch midfielder leaving Anfield after five years increases with each passing day without an agreement over a new deal. It was claimed the Merseysiders had identified Ramsey as a candidate for his replacement, but now it seems it wasn t true.

Meanwhile, reports elsewhere claim that the Old Lady are indeed keen to get Ramsey s £400,000 p…

It s official England have become the latest nation to book their place at next year s 2022 FIFA World Cup. They were forced to go through a bit more stress than they would ve liked in qualifying but in the end, it was another successful campaign for Gareth Southgate and his men.

Last night, they were able to qualify in style by sticking ten goals past minnows San Marino. The Three Lions were always expected to run out as comfortable winners but the manner in which they got the job done really did make a statement to the rest of world football.

England make history

For the first time since 1964, England were able to score ten goals in an international fixture. The last time they managed to do so was against the United States, and this time around, it was arguably eve…

Kylian Mbappe struck twice as champions Paris St Germain powered to a 4-1 win over troubled Lyon in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

It continued the France World Cup-winner’s strong start to the season after a summer overshadowed by a high-profile contract dispute.

Achraf Hakimi and Marco Asensio also got on the scoresheet as PSG effectively wrapped up victory with all four of their goals in the first half at the Groupama Stadium.

A victory with a great collective performance from our Parisians tonight! I 1-4

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)

Corentin Tolisso scored a second-half consolation for the hosts but the result piled on the pressure for under-fire Lyon manager Laurent Blanc.

Blanc’s side are now bottom of the table with just one po…

Lionel Messi heads the list of nominees for the men’s Ballon d’Or after leading Argentina to World Cup glory.

Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka were also included on the 30-man shortlist for the prestigious prize published by organisers France Football on Wednesday.

Messi, already a record seven-time winner of the annual prize for world player of the year, is again the favourite.

The 36-year-old, who now plays his club football with Inter Miami, was his country’s chief inspiration as they triumphed in Qatar last winter, scoring seven goals in the tournament.

Here are all the 2023 Ballon d Or nominees

Josko Gvardiol

— Ballon d Or #ballondor (@ballondor)

Haaland, who scored a remarkable 52 go…

that Michael Carrick has turned down a lucrative offer from the Chinese Super League in order to stay at Manchester United.

The thirty-four year old is set to be out of contract in the summer but is hoping to extend his Old Trafford stay for a further twelve months.

The neavau-riche Asian league has already splashed out big money to land the likes of Ramires from Chelsea and Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid, and further deals are expected to be completed in the coming months.

Carrick moved to Manchester United from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2006 and has so far racked up over four hundred appearances for the club, scoring twenty-three goals and winning a whole host of major honours.

Internationally, he has been capped thirty-four times…

David Moyes will be keen for Manchester United to continue their upturn in form in their League Cup quarter-final battle with Stoke City.

The Premier League champions went four top-flight games without victory over the end of November and beginning of December, including back-to-back 1-0 defeats at Old Trafford to Everton and Newcastle United.

United have improved in their last two fixtures, however, beating Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in their final UEFA Champions League group stage fixture before comfortably seeing off Aston Villa 3-0 in the league on Sunday.

And manager Moyes has now targeted continued improvement, with United looking to make the League Cup semi-finals for the first time since winning the competition in 2010 in their visit to the Britannia Stadium on Wedne…

Competition: Premier League
Market: De Boer to be next Everton manager
Odds:

Everton are looking for a new manager after having parted company with Roberto Martinez, and former Ajax boss Frank De Boer may well be the man who replaces the Spaniard at Goodison Park ahead of the 2016/17 season.

De Boer won four Dutch Eredivisie titles with Ajax in a six-year spell as manager, and promptly vacated his position in the summer after missing out on the league crown to PSV Eindhoven. He wants a new challenge and has attached his name to the Everton vacancy already, but the stance from the Merseyside club is currently unknown.

The 46-year-old boasts a fantastic CV, but his lack of experience in the Premier League would mean a gamble by Everton, at a time where…

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has dismissed talk of Gabby Agbonlahor being disheartened by his failure to earn an England recall.

The striker has assisted four goals in as many games so far this season, impressing in Villa s counter-attacking set-up that secured an opening-day win at Arsenal, while also troubling Chelsea and Liverpool in narrow defeats.

Agbonlahor has three caps for England, but has not featured for almost four years, his last outing at international level coming against Belarus in October 2009.

Rickie Lambert has featured in both of Roy Hodgson s England squads so far this season, scoring twice in three games, and Lambert moved to dampen suggestions that Agbonlahor should have been called up ahead of the Southampton man.

I m not going to tell…