Dean Saunders Exclusive Interview with BestBettingSites.com
Former Wales international and Premier League striker Dean Saunders sits down with our team at Best Betting Sites to share his insights on the current football landscape. From discussing the challenges facing clubs like Wrexham and Villa to offering his perspective on the evolving roles of managers and players, Saunders provides a candid look into the beautiful world of football.
Dean Saunders, playing for Nottingham Forest © Getty Images
Questions on Brighton
Brighton have publicly talked about European qualification being the aim for this season. How realistic do you think it is after taking only five points from the first five matches?
I think Europe is a realistic ambition, despite recent results. Brighton keep improving, year-on-year, despite selling their best players every season. They still manage to get the points on the board.
It’s like how Southampton used to do it, selling players like Gareth Bale, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana. You think at some point it was going to cost them, and eventually for Southampton it did.
For Brighton, you keep thinking, you can’t keep selling the best players. They’ve sold Joao Pedro to Chelsea, and if he was at Brighton this year, he’s probably worth 12 points a season just from the goals he scores. Right now, they’re struggling for goals, and uncharacteristically, they’re conceding too.
But you know, there’s five games gone, five points, and it’s too early yet because if you win two games, you could change your league position by about eight or nine spots. Losing two games, you go the other way. So I’d like to look at the league table again in four or five games, and I’d be able to give you a better answer. But right now, one win puts you right on the tails of everybody else.
Carlos Baleba has not had a great start and it looks like his head has been turned by that Manchester United interest. With hindsight, should Brighton have sold in the summer and how can Fabian Hurzeler get him back to playing at the level he showed last season?
I think for Carlos, he’s suffering because they’ve lost some of their best players this season. If Mo Salah goes at Liverpool, the right-back who used to play behind him is going to look worse. Obviously, he’s suffering because of the departures, but he’s a good player. I watched him at Manchester City last year and some other games, and he was outstanding.
On their day, Brighton will be outstanding again, and we’re only five games in. He’s great at getting the ball back. Every team needs something like that. If he was at Arsenal at the weekend, he’d be the player stealing back to stop Erling Haaland scoring. He gets his team back in shape.
Arsenal’s defence were out of shape, and as a striker, it is so much harder if there’s a midfielder who’s tracking back to stick a leg in and win the ball. Baleba would have been there, intercepting a ball and cleaning things up, letting the ball go again. I’d have Jan Molby (former Liverpool teammate) playing 10-yard passes to launch an attack, and Baleba can do that now. He’s young, he’s a good athlete and he’ll come good. He’s already a good player.
Saunders on Liverpool
For Liverpool to top their 2025 summer window, what do they need to do? Is the next mission finding heirs to Salah and Van Dijk? If so, who does he see as targets for Liverpool going forward – and why?
When I arrived at Liverpool, I understood how Liverpool dominated. I was 26 when I arrived and despite playing well before, it was at Liverpool where I realised just how things are done at a top club.
It’s the same for the players who’ve joined now. There’s Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and the others that have arrived for half a billion pounds. Alexander Isak is there, too, but in the coming weeks those transfer fees will fade from memory.
Remember, they paid up for Sadio Mane, for Mo Salah, but as they become cogs in the machine the transfer fees will be forgotten.
When you arrive at Liverpool, it’s made clear that you’re playing for the team. You’re asked if you want a cabinet full of medals, or if you just want to play for yourself. Because players now have to be part of a team, and that team will just win everything. It doesn’t matter who scores, whether it’s a tap-in from a midfielder or a screamer from a striker.
When I was there, we were told there were three ways to stop us. They could stop us going through them, around them, or over them. Then it was up to us to work out how to get through. We wouldn’t be told too much, we’d be given the responsibility to go and win the game.
Wirtz, for example, is learning to be part of the team. He’s won five games, and people are asking what he does. Well, he’s part of the machine that keeps winning. Ekitike, he’s been outstanding, he’s doing the same.
But now, you look ahead, and there’s Ibrahima Konate. It looks like he’ll be joining Real Madrid on a free, and they seem to be positioning themselves to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace. He’ll have a bedding-in period where he’ll be told to raise his game and match the expected standards at Anfield. The same happened to Mark Wright when he joined.
Obviously, they’ve signed Milos Kerkez to take over from Andy Robertson. Robertson has the edge right now, I think. On the other flank, Jeremie Frimpong has already replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In midfield, I saw Ryan Gravenberch in the Champions League, and he’s so mature. It’s like men against boys, the way he takes the ball on the half-term. He just looks a bigger, stronger player than everyone. Then you’ve got Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoloszbai, and they look fully loaded across the pitch.
But yeah, in the future, they will need to know how they replace Salah and Van Dijk, but it won’t be like-for-like. You just have to buy the best you can and hope they too are able to become legends. It’s worked at Anfield for a few years now, and that’s why they have kept winning.
Keeping Salah in the summer, though, was vital. It was a statement to the rest of the world that they mean business, they were looking to win in Europe and the league for the coming seasons. It’s the same for signing Van Dijk to his new deal. It convinces the players they want to sign that they are serious about winning for the next few years.
They look already like they’re heading in the right direction, but you can see they’re struggling a little. Adjusting to five new players has given them some rough edges, they’re not running like clockwork as they work. They’ve scraped through games, but that’s a sign of a determined team too. But they’re probably conceding too many and hoping to outscore at the other end, and that’s a risk.
They’re a bit shaky at the back, but they’ve got two new full-backs, so that’s to be expected. They’ve had Szoloszbai filling in in defence, and so that might give Arsenal an advantage. They look more settled, they’ve been building for years. They’ve got Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueuke, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, so they’re full of danger up front. It could be their season, but if Liverpool keep winning they are giving their new players the chance and time to settle in for the long haul.
Where does Van Dijk rank amongst previous Liverpool captains? Do you think he can keep playing beyond the end of his next contract?
Playing against hard, tough, physically aggressive defenders wasn’t exactly fun, but it wasn’t the most difficult kind of defender to play against. Even playing against the quick ones, it wasn’t easy, but it was doable. The players I hated coming up against were the ones who could read the game, who could get there before you, mentally.
A ball over the top and you think they’re in, but Alan Hansen has already swept it up. Players like Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Rio Ferdinand. They’re the really tough ones, and Van Dijk is as good as any of them. His biggest strength is his intelligence and perception. He’s a winner, too. He showed that the other day when he got on the end of a corner and won the game.
He decides where the defence is going to be, and they all play better for his influence. When he’s out, it costs Liverpool points. He’s as important as Mo Salah.
When your best players are injured, nobody likes to hear excuses, but as a manager, it costs you your job. Liverpool need him to be fit if they want to lift trophies this season. He’s a Rolls Royce of a player, just like Paul McGrath. They don’t run, they glide. He is where the ball is. They’re a step ahead of everyone.
Slot has transformed Gravenberch, Peter Crouch said that the midfielder was on his way to becoming one of the best in the world – would you agree?
He’s brilliant in his position. It’s an art to play well in that position, and he’s excelling. The best I saw in that role is N’Golo Kante for Chelsea. Everyone he played with, at every club, he elevated them. Danny Drinkwater at Leicester City, he got in the England squad. Paul Pogba for France, he won the World Cup. Nemanja Matic at Chelsea, he won the league.
He goes under the radar sometimes, like Gravenberch, but he covers the ground, gets into the right places, and smells danger. You have to have a defensive mindset to be the best in that position. Thinking about what could go wrong if you lose the ball, if your team loses the ball. You have to be looking over your shoulder, knowing who is in front of you and behind you, wondering where the ball will be headed.
What you can’t be doing is thinking about dashing into the box or making up the numbers in attack. I always thought Steven Gerrard would become that kind of player, sitting back, but he was always looking to attack. He could smell a chance, not smell danger, and he’d run out of position. Gravenberch is the opposite, and he’s just getting better and better. He can receive the ball in tight situations with three opponents around him, and he’ll get out of it. He’s strong and athletic, and he’s aware of what he needs to do.
I think he’s comfortable now that he feels the support of his manager and the fans, and he knows his job. Every time he scores a goal though, I’m thinking, what are you doing attacking? He should be the one sitting back, going unnoticed and letting the others attack.
That position is vital, it takes a lot of pressure to play there. He’s doing well.
Questions on Wrexham
If you were put in charge of Wrexham tomorrow with Ryan and Rob – what is the first thing you would do?
They won at the weekend, so that’s two on the bounce away from home. But the pressure is on. They’ve gone for it, they’re going for promotion to the Premier League.
When I was manager there, I always thought that if the club can get into League Two, they can build to the Championship. But to get out of the Championship, it’s a huge step up. There are teams who are almost as good as Premier League sides, because they’ve just come down and can spend £50million. There are the teams chucking money around looking to get into the top flight. Right now, add Birmingham to the mix, because they’re having a good go too.
Phil Parkinson is already under pressure only five games into the season. Realistically, is he the man to take Wrexham to the Premier League? How long do you think he will get to prove himself in the cut-throat world of the Championship?
I think Phil Parkinson is doing the best job anyone could. Anyone can say he’s spent plenty of money himself, but that doesn’t make it easy in this league. The fact of managing players at this level is that you’re taking players with talent, but without consistency. The task is to make them consistent.
They’ve spent money and they’ve got Keiffer Moore, Nathan Broadhead and Josh Windass. They’re all going to make an impact if they play well. These lads are earning a fortune compared to when I was at Wrexham, maybe £30,000 a week.
Fair play to Ryan and Rob. I wasn’t sure how they’d manage it. Wrexham have always had great fans, but the film stars have spent sensibly, they’ve got the documentary, got TikTok involved. Shirt sponsors are there, and that’s how you do it. They must have looked at US sports, without promotion or relegation, and realised in British football you can climb the pyramid to the top. They must have been told taking Wrexham this far would be a huge ask, and right now they’re just a single step from making them a Premier League team.
Kieffer Moore has been flying for Wrexham with five goals already this season – but are they running the risk of becoming too reliant on him for goals, especially given his recent injury record?
I think he’s in form right now. I don’t think they are over-reliant, I think he’s just shining at the moment. Josh Windass will do well, I won’t be surprised if he gets 20 a season.
They’ve been ruthless, too. They had Paul Mullin, and he’s been sent out on loan even though I thought he was good enough for the Championship. He’s a fox in the box despite his injury; knows how to put the ball in the net.
But they have enough players who can score, and with Phil Parkinson at the helm they can exploit set pieces. The defenders will chip in there. They’ve been swift to act and get rid of players from one successful season and bring in new faces for the next challenge ahead. So if there’s a problem this season, they’ll act again.
Kieffer, I hope he gets to 10 goals quickly, because he’s a streaky scorer. He can score 10 in 10 and then go quiet for another 10. But he’s a great asset for them, good in the air. When teams park the bus, he can make something out of a nothing ball.
Saunders on Villa’s Struggles
Ollie Watkins has played seven games for club and country this season without scoring and missed a good chance at the end yesterday. What are you seeing from him, is it a loss of confidence in front of goal? He’s only netted once in his last 13 games.
I am a bit worried about him, actually. I was worried when he was left out last season against PSG, and Rashford was picked ahead of him. I wondered if he would be happy with a loan player getting picked ahead of him. He’d scored the goals to get them to the Champions League and then he was left out. The same thing when Villa played Manchester City, he was left out again.
I think he followed that up with a start against Southampton, scoring two, and he said he wasn’t happy with being left out of the big games, and I wondered if he was questioning his future. Unai Emery had obviously not got confidence in him for the big games.
If I was playing for Villa and they started a loan player ahead of me, I’d be asking if the club had faith in me. I’d be looking to leave, and playing for someone who believed in me.
I remember in the past when I wasn’t scoring, I was kept in the team because I was working hard for the players around me, and eventually I found the back of the net. I think that’s what Watkins needs. You should always pick him because he will give it his all.
I know it’s seven without scoring now, and one in the last 13, and that will be on his mind. When I wasn’t scoring I couldn’t sleep, because that’s your currency. What I’d tell him is to imagine a channel through the centre of the penalty area, from one post to the other, and just operate in there. You need to be running into that area in every attack, and don’t be drawn out. Don’t come deep and lay it off, or move out wide to cross for someone else. Stop running in to out, and run from out to in.
He needs to get into the middle of the area so you’re there when the ball is, and I think he needs to feel loved. Even if Unai Emery isn’t convinced, he needs to tell Watkins he is, because this spell will be affecting him. And then when he does score, the belief will come flooding back, and everything gets easier. Sprinting, closing down, trapping the ball, anticipating loose balls, and more goals come.
Matty Cash has got a goal for Villa that can spark them into life. The challenge for the players is to show they are some of the very best. You don’t do that by finishing in the top four once, but by doing it every season. They need to show they can do this regularly, and you can’t afford to start a season off the pace. You can’t turn up away from home and lack sharpness. I hope now they can change that.
Unai Emery says he was “disappointed and frustrated” after the draw with Sunderland. Does that sum up Villa’s start to the season so far? And can you see them getting back on track in the league against Fulham this Sunday?
I saw him walk down the tunnel before the final whistle, which is unusual for him. He’s obviously raging, and has been since the start of the season. I think PSR rules have affected their transfer window, and they made late dashes for Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho.
I think the problem for Villa is that some of the players are complacent. Maybe they think they’ve arrived. They’re Champions League players in their head. But that only works if you give consistent performances every week. You need to be at seven out of 10, at least, every game, and that way a manager can trust you.
Your ability might get you a seat at the table, but only consistency keeps you there. It’s the hard work that people don’t like, the everyday stuff. Morgan Rogers is excellent, but sometimes he might need to pitch in and stop the opposition against bigger sides, even if he doesn’t fancy it. But look at Liverpool. They’re not playing their best but they’re still winning because they are doing the basics properly. They’re determined, and they show up.
The Villa players look like they are expecting sides like Bournemouth and Crystal Palace to just roll over, and it doesn’t work like that.
Saunders on his Time at Liverpool
Were you surprised when Liverpool sold you?
Honestly, I was surprised. I scored 23 goals that season. I aimed for at least 20 a year as a striker, and I was ready to kick on.
Graeme Sounness, who signed me a few times over my career, I can’t say enough good things about him. We’re still friends, still talking to each other. But he called me into his office one day, and said, Ron Atkinson’s been on the phone. He was asking about a few players and then he mentioned your name. Then Graeme asked what I thought.
I replied, so you’re prepared to sell me? Otherwise you wouldn’t have called me in. And he told me he needed money for a centre-back, and to be fair, he didn’t force me out. He kept playing me. And then Ron kept calling me, telling me how good I was, and then he told the Villa fans he wanted me. That’s when I thought, it’s a matter of time before the club sell me, so I agreed to go to Villa.
When I agreed, I actually took a wage cut, and Ron promised me if the club did well, he’d give me a raise to my old wages. I remember when we won the League Cup, I got 23 goals, we came second in the league. I went to see him and ask for more money. He said, “Yeah, carry on?” So I thought that was it, me and him were finished, but he was so funny that it was impossible to fall out with him.
Eventually he called me back in and told me he’d sorted a new contract, but looking back, I was disappointed I wasn’t at Liverpool longer. My dad played for them for 12 years, and I was brought up with the way they played football. At Swansea, John Toshack was the manager, so I was surrounded by people from Liverpool like Emlyn Hughes and Tommy Smith.
So it was unbelievable when I signed for them, and I’m grateful for the chance. The best night I ever had in football, it was European nights at Anfield. A privilege, with the crowd signing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, and you touch the Anfield badge. You see the look on the faces of your opposition, and they’re overawed. Even if you struggle, the crowd sings your name. The club is unlike any other in the world.
Apart from playing in the World Cup for Wales, the only thing I’d want to do is play in Europe for Liverpool again.
What would you say to Liverpool to cope with the atmosphere next week?
Liverpool’s players have played in huge games before. They will know how to deal with pressure. At Galatasaray, I loved it there. It was a great club with unbelievable support.
A 7pm kick off would see the fans in the stadium by 12. Banging drums, red and yellow smoke everywhere. I played there sometimes and we couldn’t see the pitch under the yellow and red. We played Sparta Prague and I just felt sorry for them as they tried to cope. I thought, this must be murder for them.
But the manager will tell his players the same thing. Whatever else is going on, it’s 11 v 11. It’s the same size pitch. Nobody is coming from the crowd to tackle you or save your shots. It’s all psychological, so put it out of your mind.
The only worry is the referee getting wrapped up in the atmosphere and having a bad game, but that’s the only way it can get to you in a way you can’t control. Don’t let the crowd affect you. Play your normal game. There’s not a Galatasaray player who would get into Liverpool’s starting XI.
Arne Slot will be telling players to play their usual game, move the ball quickly, and quicker than your opponents, and we’ll have the brains to move to the right places. We have the strikers who can finish moves on, whatever the crowd does.
It’ll be a tough night, but they just need to focus. Andy Robertson, for example, is going to have a chance to get in behind his opponent and he can make a goal for Hugo Ekitike. It’s the same across the pitch. Do the basics, fight, and you’ll be OK. A point in Istanbul is a good result, too, so there’s not too much pressure.
Question on Sancho at Villa
Is signing Jadon Sancho a worthwhile gamble?
When Jadon Sancho was at Borussia Dortmund, he’d beat his man, get to the byline, provide assists. He’d find you at the back post or the near post. Or he’d drop his shoulder, cut in and bend one in the top corner.
It was hard to get the ball off him. If I were his coach, if I were Unai Emery, I would tell him that his job is to beat his full-back and cross for Ollie Watkins or cut inside and get his fair share of goals. When the ball is on the other side of the pitch, I want you at the back post for tap-ins and headers.
And when we lose the ball, I want you to work your nuts off to help the fullback behind you stop the opposition scoring. That’s it. See you tomorrow. If you do all these things, I’ll pick you.
That was the old Sancho. But like a lot of players, ever since his move to Manchester United, he doesn’t take players on. He stops, turns around, passes it back. He doesn’t produce the goods, and he struggled to make an impact at Chelsea with all the players they have competing for a spot.
He has a chance at Villa. He’s obviously talented, but he needs to be showing up every week, seven out of 10. Give me that, you start every match. If you don’t, I can’t start you. A manager needs to be sure of what he’s going to get from at least eight of his 11 players. It doesn’t matter if they never give you a nine out of 10 if you’re sure they won’t give you a three.
Then, you need your matchwinners. Eric Cantona and Dimitar Berbatov, players like that, but they have to be given a platform by your consistent players. You can’t just walk around at Villa. You’re not Pele or Maradona. So Sancho has to knuckle down now and save his career. He can play at the highest level, and I hope he does it for Villa.
Sheffield United
Is Chris Wilder the right man to take Sheffield United back up to the Premier League?
Six games gone and they’ve not won yet. They were harsh to sack him in the first place. The advantage for him now is that he knows the club. He’s a Blades fan.
I played with him, and I managed against him. He’s no-nonsense, but he was a good footballer and he’s a good manager. He could get stuck in and that’s how his teams play. He will expect the side to be committed, being solid, and defending properly.
But he’s no fool. He was one of the first managers to have central defenders in a three and getting them to step out ahead of the wing-backs. In the Premier League, people struggled to figure it out, and he deserves praise for that.
I think for now he will want to calm things down, even if they have to grind out some nil-nils. Let’s get some points on the board, some clean sheets, and then start moving up the table. I think with six games gone, it’s too late to be targeting promotion.
Saunders on Jose Mourinho joining Benfica
Do you think Benfica is a club that suits Mourinho?
He’s been there before. He managed them for 11 games or something and then moved on. He’s become a legend in Portugal, for obvious reasons.
He’s in a good position at Benfica. They’re second in the league; they’re not in crisis. Porto are a few points clear, but I think with Jose being Jose, Benfica are going to be able to attract some players they wouldn’t be able to usually. There might be some outlandish or unusual arrivals who you’d never expect to come to Benfica.
He’s box office. He knows the game inside and out, and the director of football is going to have a fun Christmas. I hope he does well because he’s so entertaining, and you never know what he’s going to say next.
Benfica are lucky to have him. He’s a great manager. And the crowds are about 64,000. 58,000 is a low turnout for them. They’ll be buzzing and thinking he can win them everything. The optimism will be flowing at the club right now. The club is quite settled, they have a new stadium. It is a magnificent football club, and Mourinho is an icon.
All the Portuguese managers who have been in the Premier League since he came, it’s all down to him.
Questions on Wales
What is your memory of losing to Romania in World Cup qualifying?
We had to win to qualify. I think that’s the worst moment of my career. I wouldn’t change anything, looking back, apart from that night in Cardiff.
We needed to win to qualify for the World Cup in America. There were about 70,000 people in the stadium, and I remember Haji just dropped his shoulder from 35 yards out and let fly. Neville Southall, the best keeper in the world at the time, let it skid past him, and they’re 1-0 up. We thought, “Oh, no.”
Then I managed to scramble a tap-in from a corner, and I hooked it in. We got a penalty, and Paul Bodin, he had three from three, and he took the penalties for Swindon who were in the Premier League. Normally he’d lash them into the roof of the net. I think he took it despite Ian Rush, me, Gary Speed, maybe Ryan Giggs all on the pitch, and he got a bit of stick for that. But he was the designated penalty taker, and I remembered telling Gary, follow up because if he misses, it’ll be coming off the crossbar.
It hit the bar, but it bounced over us, and we’d rushed in. They took the ball up the other end and a couple of minutes later they scored. But if we’d gone 2-1 up we’d have qualified.
I remember sitting in the players’ lounge afterwards with my mum, my dad, my sister. All the family were there, and I just couldn’t speak. I’d had some tough times. I’d ruptured my ACL, a real nightmare injury, but that is the worst moment of my career. If I could change anything, it would be to qualify for the World Cup. I was really lucky. I played with some of the greats, and for great managers, and all I used to do was just try my hardest and score. I played until I was 37, I was lucky. 75 caps for Wales while I was doing it despite being released as a teenager by both Cardiff and Swansea.
Do you think Craig Bellamy is the right man to take Wales to the 2026 World Cup?
Craig’s doing well at the minute, particularly with the players he has to pick from. When I was playing for Wales, we’d have so many Premier League players. Now, Bellamy can’t be sure he’ll have more than a handful, if that.
It’s a tough job, but he’s got the players convinced, and that’s half the battle. If the players do not believe what you’re saying or don’t trust you believe in yourself, you’re on a hiding to nothing.
He’s got some good results, lost one game, a few hairy moments. We’d have players like Ian Rush, Mark Huges, Gary Speed, Neville Southall and more. They were playing for the best clubs, and if we ever had someone come up from what we now call the Championship, they’d struggle to match our standard in training. We were too fast for them.
Given the resources Craig has, on the other hand, he’s got some amazing results and we’re right in with a chance of qualifying. We need Ethan Ampadu back and fit, he’s the only player we have since Joe Allen’s retirement who can dictate a game. He’s a Gravenberch type. But we’re a small nation with a small pool to choose from. With a bit of luck on our side, we can do it. Things are looking good. We have reasons to be optimistic.
Premier League Thoughts
Who is the better striker of Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak?
I’d want Haaland over Isak. I don’t even have to think about it. Haaland is proven. Isak has done it for Newcastle, don’t get me wrong. But Haaland’s stats are incredible, he has more goals than games for Norway, scored five the other day. He has seven in six for City already. He’s playing for a team looking to win everything and he’s starring for them. As good as Isak is, he hasn’t done that for Liverpool yet.
Haaland performs non-stop in crunch games, so it’s a straightforward choice.
I ask myself who I’d rather face, and Haaland would be a nightmare. He has more pace than you, thinks quicker than you, is bigger than you, is better in the air than you. He’s more determined, two-footed. How can you stop a player who is better than you at everything? All you can do is hope it’s an off day for him, keep him as far away as possible from the goal, or stop the ball getting to him by marking him out of the game, and that’s easier said than done.
Isak is different. He played for Liverpool on his debut and barely touched the ball for the first 15 minutes. He wasn’t sprinting about, he comes off the defenders and drops deep for one-twos. He can run in behind, too, looking for a through ball. But Haaland is always there on your shoulder, always a threat. I think the only person who might make me reconsider for a moment is Harry Kane, but even then I’ll still plump for Haaland.
What was it like managing El Hadji Diouf?
Diouf was a class player. There was no doubt about his talent. He’s a bit like Mo Salah, too. When the ball is played up to him he can keep it, he has such strong legs. Roll a ball up to him, and he’ll keep the full-back at bay and then move the ball on. He had talent and skill, and he could get a foul off anyone.
Of course, he could also start a row in a phone box, and he’d get involved in all sorts. I’d say to him, Dioufy, please, just get through the game without being booked for doing stupid. If you get booked for a tackle that’s fine, but not pushing someone in the face. But I always thought of him as a lovable rogue.
If you met him, you’d think ah, he’s a nice lad. But he’d test you. Every day was a test. One day, he asked me if he could go back to Senegal. He said, there’s an election, and if I am not back there to sit next to the president, he’ll lose the election. I’m thinking this is all a lie, but he asks if he can go back for a few days.
I told him it’s Monday, we’re playing Saturday, you can’t be jetting off to Senegal and back. But he replied that I didn’t understand. That if the president loses, Senegal would crumble. He said, “I’m not going to blame you, but if you don’t let me go, the whole country is at stake.”
So, fine. I said, make sure you’re back by Thursday. Don’t tell anyone I’ve let you go or they’ll all want time off. Me and my assistant think this is all nonsense, this is the biggest excuse I’ve ever heard. This is a classic. Senegal will crumble! We’re laughing our heads off.
So anyway, Wednesday morning after training, we’re all in the canteen, and one of the lads is flicking through the channels, and he’s got the news on, and he says, “Hey, there’s Dioufy!” He’s sitting next to the president of Senegal.
I say, “No! He’s ill! That’s old footage! That’s not him!” But credit to Dioufy, he came back on Thursday like he promised.
He was a class player, otherwise he wouldn’t have played for so many good sides, but he wasn’t always easy to manage.
Who will be Liverpool’s strongest rivals?
I think Arsenal are the strongest rivals to Liverpool, but having said that, Haaland is on fire and Manchester City look closer to their old selves. There’s glimmers of hope for City, but Arsenal are looking really solid defensively.
Obviously they let Haaland in at the weekend, but they’re strong across the pitch. After a summer of spending and a few years of building, they have a strong squad, and a settled group of players who know their jobs. Liverpool, on the other hand, have five players to integrate. And they’re making do without Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, and that’s about 30 goals a season they’ve lost.
I know Nunez had his critics and he would miss chances, but he scored more late goals off the bench than any other player in the league. Bringing him on would have an impact, and he’d have done well at Arsenal or Tottenham if they’d moved for him. It’s no certainty that the replacements will be better than those three. They lost Harvey Elliott too, and he was a real threat as a sub. He had infectious enthusiasm that could change the course of games. I hope he gets a run at Villa, because he could show everyone – and importantly Thomas Tuchel – why he should be playing for England.
