Rudy's Rumour Mill: Klopp makes Liverpool Thiago demand and Tite to Al Hilal?

INTER MILAN- MANY RENEWALS ON THE HORIZON

At the top of the table of Serie A - alongside AC Milan - Inter are committed not only to achieving excellent results on the pitch, but they are also working intensely on off-field issues with the renewals of Lautaro Martinez, Nicolo Barella and Federico Dimarco among the main priorities.

With the four goals scored against Salernitana, Martinez confirmed his leadership in the Nerazzurri squad and although his contract expires in 2026, Beppe Marotta wants to keep the club captain forever.

Therefore, next week the first contact will be made to try and come to a contract resolution.

It is a similar story for Barella: the Italian midfielder still has three years left on his contract, but with his desire to play for the Nerazzurri, the hope is for him to continue at Inter for a long time to come.

Even if some top Premier League clubs will try again for him next summer, after unsuccessful attempts in the last market session.

Finally, as regards to Dimarco, the negotiations for his contract extension are already in advanced stage: with the left back - a big Inter fan – there are no issues and the discussions that are moving rapidly.

The aim is to finalise the renewal by end of year.

TITE AND JORGE JESUS, MANY ENTANGLEMENTS

Two very different managers in their way of coaching like Tite and Jorge Jesus, have a future full of entanglements.

The current coach of Al Hilal, despite being top of the Saudi League, is not appreciated by the entire management of the club who - a few weeks ago – informed his entourage that not only the results on the pitch are needed, but also the level of performances and the "show" offered to the fans must be improved.

The last 2-0 victory against Al Shabab - also the result of a good match in terms of quality of football - gave Jorge Jesus breathing space, but Al Hilal have already prepared a list of possible replacements incase things go south.

Among the various names is Tite: the former coach of Brazil National Team, however he is also strongly courted by Flamengo who has just sacked Jorge Sampaoli.

Tite is stalling, waiting to understand if the Saudi option will become concrete soon, while the Brazilian club wants to close the deal shortly and are also thinking of Jorge Jesus as an alternative.

Obviously, the Portuguese will never leave Al Hilal on his own free will. 

LIVERPOOL RENEWALS, MATIP AND THIAGO ON THE AGENDA

Liverpool added the discussions of the future of two players whose contracts expire in 2024 to their agenda.- Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara.

The Reds have not yet started talks for their extension, but they are ready to contact their entourage soon.

The main priority is to approach Thiago Alcantara: Liverpool and especially Jurgen Klopp want to convince the Spanish midfielder to extend his contract for a short period, although the interest by Saudi clubs is concrete and real.

In the next few weeks the first contact is expected.

Talking about Matip, despite his will to stay, the chances of him leaving at the end of the season are growing.

At the moment, Liverpool are evaluating the opportunity to reinforce in the summer and bring a defender with a younger profile.

So, to date, the possible renewal of Joel is not in their plans.

Lastly, let's always keep an eye on Mohamed Salah: despite last minute attempts from Saudi in the summer transfer window, the Egyptian player stayed at Liverpool.

However, the Saudi Arabia Football Federation won't give up and is already planning a strategy for the near future. They are also leveraging on his contract expiration (June 2025).

Not by chance, Liverpool are exploring some possible replacements such as Athletic Bilbao right-winger Nico Williams who is among the names currently being considered.

SAUDI PRO LEAGUE, NOW THE GREAT CEO'S ARE TEMPTED

About one year ago, Cristiano Ronaldo said that "the Saudi Pro League can become a top-five league in the world" and this is now really happening.

Neymar Jr, Milinkovic-Savic, Benzema, Kante, Mahrez, Firmino and Ruben Neves are just some of the players who have decided to land in Saudi this summer, making the league full of football stars and giving it great prestige throughout the world.

Now that the transfer window is over, the focus of Saudi clubs is moving on to strengthening their top management, as is happening to the Private Investment Fund teams that are working to hire new CEOs.

Al Nassr and Al Ittihad have already completed this task, appointing respectively the Italian Guido Fienga – in charge at AS Roma until 2022 – and the Portuguese Domingos Soares de Oliveira – former CEO of Benfica – as their new chief execs.

Al Hilal and Al Ahli, on the contrary, are continuing their negotiations to convince top European managers: Neymar's club is pushing hard to convince Alessandro Antonello, the current CEO of Inter.

Despite the distances with the manager of the Nerazzurri, the Saudi club does not want to give up and hopes to be able to reach an agreement quickly.

Finally, Al Ahli are always looking in Italy for their new CEO: at the moment there are ongoing contacts with Lina Souloukou - now at AS Roma - but no agreement so far.

CHELSEA'S FULL FOCUS ON MAATSEN AND GALLAGHER

After Burnley's attempt to take him back permanently, Dutch left-back Ian Maatsen decided to stay.

During pre-season, the coaching staff had been surprised by the skills of the player who, thanks to his performanes, has a good chance of remaining at Chelsea and renewing his contract.

His eventual stay could free Marc Cucurella who, with the right proposal, could leave in the summer.

Different story for Conor Gallagher: his contract expires in June 2025 and there won't be a rush on Chelsea's side to talk about a possible contract renewal.

However, the Blues want to start discussions anyway, having already had to resist pressure from other clubs this summer.

Conor – as is well known – attracted the attention of many Premier League teams and continues to do so.

For this reason, let's keep an eye on Tottenham who could make a concrete move following the possible farewell of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.