Jon Devries

🚨🚨💣 EXCLUSIVE: Florian Wirtz to Liverpool, HERE WE GO! Liverpool verbally agree deal in principle with Bayer Leverkusen for package reaching €150m add-ons included. Player side already agreed two weeks ago with move now imminent. Wirtz set for medical and contract signing.

Arne Slot retains the backing of Fenway Sports Group. The belief is that this campaign has thrown up a series of unforeseen challenges and that the Dutchman deserves the opportunity of a third season in charge. FSG feels that the coach who won the Premier League title in his first term in charge has not disappeared, but Slot must prove that faith is not misplaced. (The Times)

🇳🇴 A Syrian migrant found guilty of raping a 13-year-old Norwegian girl in a bike shed in Tromsø will serve just six months in prison after the sentencing court ruled that the attacker had a "low IQ" and "a reduced understanding of reality." Abdelmonem Abdelrazak Al-Yousef was found to have raped the girl in September 2024, less than a year after arriving in Norway from Syria. He met her in Tromsø city center before assaulting her on a park bench and leading her to a secluded bike shed near the Harbour Terminal where he raped her. He initially denied meeting the girl, but after semen was found at the scene and traced to him, he admitted to meeting the victim but not engaging in sexual activity. Psychiatric assessments showed he had a very low IQ, and the court ruled that "the defendant is most likely no further along in development than the victim." A change to Norwegian law last year removed the minimum prison sentence of three years for rape, allowing the court to impose a partial suspended sentence conditional on probation, meaning he will only serve six months inside.

Arne Slot is expected to continue as Liverpool head coach next season, Sky Sports News understands, as the club close in on Champions League qualification 🔴

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