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David Ornstein names the Liverpool defender he expects to LEAVE

David Ornstein names the Liverpool defender he expects to LEAVE

Yahoo20-05-2025

© IMAGO
Jarrel Quansah's fate is sealed confirms Ornstein
The highly regarded journalist from the Athletic was on Sky Sports' Back Pages show earlier this week and he revealed his intel about the Reds' defensive setup.
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He said: "It would probably require either Andy Robertson, or may more likely [Kostas] Tsimikas to leave. At the top of the list is Milos Kerkez at Bournemouth.
"They will have other options too. What they do there may affect what type of right-back they bring in, if they bring one in, because don't forget, they've got Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez as options.
"I would expect Jarell Quansah to leave."
As expected, almost no one is safe from transfer conversations ahead of the summer this year.
It will come as no surprise that Quansah's future is in doubt. His campaign this season has been pretty disastrous is we're honest. He was hooked at half-time in the opening game against Ipswich and he has struggled to make a difference ever since.
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From 2493 minutes in the senior set-up last year, he's notched just 1207 minutes this season, and while he signed a new contract in October, it seems as though he might be at risk.
Ornstein's intel that Quansah will 'leave' is less than helpful, given that could plausibly involve him either going on loan or agreeing to a more permanent departure. Quite simply, we don't know.
But a centre-back has been on the radar for a while now. It was surprising to see that Joel Matip was not replaced last summer, and so you would expect one player to join regardless of what happens.
However, it is also fascinating to hear that Joe Gomez is being name-dropped as a plausible right-back understudy given his injury record, and after 10 years at the club, he is still seen as a reliable asset.
Of course, what results over the next few months will be fascinating, but Liverpool would certainly be showing off their bold and ruthless side if Quansah was to be moved on following a poor 12 months.

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Ravel Morrison interview: Older, wiser and ‘moving on' after Manchester United troubles
Ravel Morrison interview: Older, wiser and ‘moving on' after Manchester United troubles

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Ravel Morrison interview: Older, wiser and ‘moving on' after Manchester United troubles

If you have any preconceptions about Ravel Morrison — and, let's face it, many people do — it might come as a surprise that, close up, he is not the person you may expect him to be. For someone who is regularly portrayed as one of the bad-boys of English football, it turns out he is actually rather pleasant company. Advertisement This alleged troublemaker wants to know if he can fetch me a coffee. Maybe something from the fruit bowl? He thanks me for coming and asks how I will be getting home. Only little things, you might think, but not every footballer is so courteous. There is humour, too. At one point, mid-interview, a friend wanders over to say hello. Morrison gets up from his seat to introduce everyone and explains that The Athletic's correspondent is, in fact, the 'chief scout from Real Madrid'. And for a brief moment, his mate falls for it — maybe because, even now, if you put Morrison into a training session with the stars of the Bernabeu, you would expect him to hold his own. As it is, his career has taken a different path since those early days at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson regarded him as the most talented boy he had seen during all his years in charge. The boy has become a man. Morrison is 32 now — older, wiser, a lot more worldly than the kid who got into trouble, ended up in court and left Old Trafford without fulfilling that rare potential. So why does it remain so difficult for him, all these years on, to break free from his past? 'Even now, I can guarantee that if I signed for a club in England, the headline in all the newspapers would be something negative,' he says. 'If another player at United gets into trouble, he's always 'the next Ravel'. Anything that anyone does wrong gets linked to my name. It pops up on my Instagram and I'm thinking, 'Oh, not again… how many years is this now?'. 'What I've found is that if you get a reputation early on, it can stick with you through life. Or it does with me, anyway. 'So many people have formed an opinion about me, but those opinions are based on things that happened 10 to 15 years ago. I'm 32 now. I've played football around the world and had a good career. I'm not a kid of 16 or 17 anymore.' Advertisement He has spent the past nine months at Precision FC, a British-owned club in Dubai that was founded in 2023 and hailed his arrival last September as 'more than a signing — it's a statement, a game-changer for both our club and football in the United Arab Emirates'. Playing abroad has never fazed Morrison, from Lazio in Italy's Serie A to Atlas in Mexico's Liga MX, as well as spells with Swedish club Ostersund, Dutch team ADO Den Haag and a stint in the United States with DC United. The experiences, he says, have taught him a lot about football and life in general. Recently, though, he has set his mind on moving home and reminding English audiences of the talent that saw him light up the Premier League, all too briefly, in West Ham's colours. Steve McClaren, Jamaica's national manager, has stated publicly — as well as telling Morrison in person — that he needs to return to Europe to play at a higher level. 'The level is not the best,' Morrison says, almost apologetically, about football in the UAE, where Precision FC play in the third tier. 'The club have been very good to me. Training is good. We've got a lot of good players and it's a nice life. I'd just like to be playing at a higher level. 'In Dubai, we're beating teams 7-1 week in, week out. I can go into games thinking, 'It's going to be easy today'. It's too easy — you feel like you're not developing.' So, who has been in touch? Well, lots of people, inevitably. 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Connections: Sports Edition hints for June 6, 2025, puzzle No. 256
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