Liverpool in 'Good Place' for Years to Come, Says Slot

Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on January 31, 2026. Liverpool won the game 4-1. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on January 31, 2026. Liverpool won the game 4-1. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
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Liverpool in 'Good Place' for Years to Come, Says Slot

Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on January 31, 2026. Liverpool won the game 4-1. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on January 31, 2026. Liverpool won the game 4-1. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Liverpool's recruitment of rising stars will put the club on a sure footing for years to come, according to manager Arne Slot despite a difficult season for the Premier League champions.

The Reds sit sixth in the Premier League after a difficult start to life at Anfield for a number of new recruits in a near £450 million ($616 million) spending spree in the summer transfer market, said AFP.

Highly-rated French defender Jeremy Jacquet will also join for the start of next season after Liverpool agreed a deal with Rennes worth up to £60 million for the 20-year-old.

"Such a big talent and another example of the model we're using at this club," Slot said on Thursday.

"Young, very talented players, sometimes at the start of their careers or sometimes already a little bit a few years into their career, but always players that are young and can improve us in the short term but also definitely in the long term.

"We've signed a lot of them recently and the mid-long term future of this club, and even the short term, is in a very good place."

Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz are two of the club's big money signings that are beginning to deliver returns on the near £200 million invested in signing them from the Bundesliga.

Ekitike scored twice in a 4-1 win over Newcastle last weekend to take his tally for the season to 15, while Wirtz has netted six times in 10 matches since ending a 22-game wait for his first Liverpool goal.

"As a manager, even if he is struggling a little bit at the start, you have to keep playing him because that is the only way he can improve," said Slot on Wirtz finding his feet in the Premier League.

"He didn't improve that much on the ball because from the start he was special. Maybe now he has a better connection with his teammates because they've played more and more together.

"Off the ball is where I see the biggest improvement with him, and some others, and that combination makes you ready for the Premier League."

Liverpool host Manchester City on Sunday in a match with huge ramifications for the title race and the battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.

City trail leaders Arsenal by six points and could find themselves nine adrift by the time they kick off with the Gunners hosting Sunderland on Saturday.

Liverpool could also be four points outside the top five, which should secure a place in the Champions League, should Manchester United and Chelsea win on Saturday.

Slot is keen to make amends for his side's 3-0 defeat to City in November.

"They were the better team and I think we want to show a different side of us this time."



Italy Foils Russian Cyberattacks Targeting Olympics

 Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Figure Skating Training - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milan, Italy - February 04, 2026. Ruiyang Zhang of China during training. (Reuters)
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Figure Skating Training - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milan, Italy - February 04, 2026. Ruiyang Zhang of China during training. (Reuters)
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Italy Foils Russian Cyberattacks Targeting Olympics

 Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Figure Skating Training - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milan, Italy - February 04, 2026. Ruiyang Zhang of China during training. (Reuters)
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Figure Skating Training - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milan, Italy - February 04, 2026. Ruiyang Zhang of China during training. (Reuters)

Italy has thwarted "a series of cyberattacks" of "Russian origin" targeting the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the foreign minister said Wednesday, as security operations ramp up with just hours to go before the opening ceremony.

The attacks were "on foreign ministry offices, starting with Washington, and also some Winter Olympics sites, including hotels in Cortina", Antonio Tajani said during a trip to the US city.

His office did not provide further details, nor did the International Olympic Committee (IOC) immediately respond to a request for comment.

But a Russian hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was in response to the Italian government's support for Ukraine.

"The pro-Ukrainian course of the Italian government leads to the fact that support for Ukrainian terrorists is punishable by our DDoS missiles on websites," read a statement on a Telegram channel purporting to represent the group Noname057.

DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks halt access to a website by overloading its servers with traffic.

AFP was not able to immediately verify the account's ownership but its statements appear to match those cited by cybersecurity analysts online.

The group said it had attacked the websites of several hotels in Cortina d'Ampezzo, one of the towns hosting events for the February 6-22 Games.

Access to one of them remained blocked on Wednesday afternoon.

- Skiers and snipers -

Italy has deployed around 6,000 police plus nearly 2,000 military personnel across the Games area, which stretches across half a dozen sites from Milan to the Dolomites.

Bomb disposal experts, snipers, anti-terrorism units and skiing policemen are among those deployed.

The defense ministry is also providing 170 vehicles plus radars, drones and aircraft.

Security is particularly focused on Milan, where political leaders including US Vice President JD Vance are expected for Friday's opening ceremony.

The issue has become a fraught topic after it emerged that agents from the controversial US immigration enforcement agency ICE would be present.

Italy's interior minister Matteo Piantedosi stressed Wednesday that ICE agents, currently embroiled in an often brutal crackdown on illegal immigration in the United States, would not be patrolling the streets of Milan.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arm will operate within US diplomatic missions only and "are not operational agents" and "have no executive function", he told parliament.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala last week said ICE agents were "not welcome", adding: "This is a militia that kills."

Piantedosi noted it was standard for countries to send security officials to the Olympics, with Italy having sent them to Paris for the 2024 Games, and said the controversy was "completely unfounded.

"ICE does not and will never be able to carry out operational police activities on our national territory," he emphasized.

The HSI investigates global threats, and is separate from the department carrying out the US immigration crackdown that has sparked widespread protests.

The US ambassador to Italy, Tilman J. Fertitta, said last week the HSI will be "strictly advisory and intelligence-based, with no patrolling or enforcement involvement".

"At the Olympics, HSI criminal investigators will contribute their expertise by providing intelligence on transnational criminal threats, with a focus on cybercrimes and national security threats," he said.

- Ice House to Winter House -

But the row continues. A pop-up hospitality house organized by US Figure Skating, USA Hockey and US Speedskating at a hotel in Milan has even changed its name from "Ice House" to "Winter House".

Small protests have been staged against the deployment of ICE in Italy, and further demonstrations are expected during the opening weekend of the Games, focusing on various issues.

Pro-Palestinian activists are planning a demonstration during the arrival of the Olympic flame in Milan on Thursday, to protest Israel's participation in the Games due to the war in Gaza.

Other events are likely to coincide with Friday's opening ceremony at Milan's San Siro stadium, while a march is planned in the city on Saturday.

Critics of the Winter Games complain about the impact of infrastructure -- from new buildings to transport -- on fragile mountain environments, as well as the widespread and energy-intensive use of artificial snow.


Germany Rejects Calls for World Cup Boycott

Soccer Football - World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws - FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Soccer Football - World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws - FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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Germany Rejects Calls for World Cup Boycott

Soccer Football - World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws - FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Soccer Football - World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws - FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Germany's government on Wednesday rejected calls for a boycott of the football World Cup co-hosted by the United States, after President Donald Trump retreated from his threats to seize Greenland.

A boycott of the tournament would not be "the right approach", government spokesman Steffen Meyer told a press conference in Berlin, AFP reported.

"Political disputes should be settled at the political level, and sport should be left to be sport."

This year's World Cup is to be held between June 11 and July 19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Some German politicians had questioned whether the country should still participate after Trump last month stepped up his longstanding threats to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

He targeted eight European countries, including Germany, with tariffs for their opposition to his ambitions.

But the US leader later withdrew his tariff threats and vowed not to take the Arctic island by force, after saying he had struck a "framework" deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.

At the height of the crisis, Berlin had avoided taking a clear stance on a boycott, saying only it was up to the country's football association to decide.

Germany's minister for sports, Christiane Schenderlein, also said Wednesday the government had decided that it did not support a boycott.

"Sport must not be exploited like this," she told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

 

 

 


Fenerbahce Thanks Erdogan for Backing Kante Deal

FILE - France's N'golo Kante fights for the ball against Ukraine's Yehor Nazaryna during a World Cup 2026 group D qualifying soccer match between France and Ukraine in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)
FILE - France's N'golo Kante fights for the ball against Ukraine's Yehor Nazaryna during a World Cup 2026 group D qualifying soccer match between France and Ukraine in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)
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Fenerbahce Thanks Erdogan for Backing Kante Deal

FILE - France's N'golo Kante fights for the ball against Ukraine's Yehor Nazaryna during a World Cup 2026 group D qualifying soccer match between France and Ukraine in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)
FILE - France's N'golo Kante fights for the ball against Ukraine's Yehor Nazaryna during a World Cup 2026 group D qualifying soccer match between France and Ukraine in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)

France midfielder Ngolo Kante has signed for Fenerbahce thanks to "support" from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish club said on Wednesday.

The length of Kante's contract has not been revealed but it offers the two-time Premier League winning midfielder (Leicester 2016, Chelsea 2017) a chance to further his claim for a place in France's World Cup finals squad.

"Our club has successfully completed the transfer of N'Golo Kante, a prominent figure in world football," Fenerbahce president Sadettin Saran said.

"On behalf of myself and our club, I would like to express my gratitude to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his significant support in ensuring the positive conclusion of this process, which will contribute to the development of both Fenerbahce and Turkish football," he added.

Fenerbahce, 19 times Turkish champions, have also signed Kante's fellow France midfielder Matteo Guendouzi during the winter transfer window.

They are locked in a tight battle for the league title, three points off fellow-Istanbul side Galatasary, and face English outfit Nottingham Forest in the Europa League knockout phase play-offs later this month.