Liga: Ademola Lookman, the new breath of fresh air — and more

Ademola Lookman, the new energy with Atletico

Ademola Lookman/@Atletico Madrid

Ademola Lookman has just reached a major milestone in his career by leaving Atalanta Bergamo for Atlético Madrid. The Nigerian wasted no time adapting to Spanish football, quickly establishing himself as a key player for the capital club.

In just five matches with Los Colchoneros, the Super Eagle has scored 3 goals and provided 2 assists—matching the stats he recorded for Atalanta Bergamo in 19 appearances earlier this season.

The club change has clearly unleashed the 28-year-old, whose impact is delighting both Diego Simeone and Atlético Madrid fans. His first goal in the Champions League against Club Brugge is proof he’ll be a real asset for his team in the competition.

Let’s not forget, Lookman was close to signing with Inter Milan last summer, but Atalanta Bergamo blocked the transfer.

Childhood devotion shaped by Dalglish magic

There are footballers you admire, and there are footballers who colonise your imagination. For Ange Postecoglou, Liverpool were not merely a club across the world but a weekly ritual, a shared language with his father, a belief system forged in red and white. The Australian coach admitted simply: “I was Liverpool mad, right? I was Liverpool obsessed.”

It began, as these things often do, with a hero. When Kenny Dalglish arrived at Anfield in 1977, replacing Kevin Keegan and ushering in another Liverpool dynasty, the young Postecoglou felt something shift. “When Kenny came in ’77, it went to another level for me,” he said. That was Dalglish’s effect. He made the complicated look inevitable, the brilliant look effortless, and children in Glasgow, Sydney or Sefton Park felt they had witnessed something sacred.

Dalglish’s Liverpool were not just winners; they were craftsmen. They played with poise, patience and menace. They made football feel like poetry written with studs and laces. That is how obsession begins.

Anfield promise carried into Premier League career

Football’s beauty lies in its capacity to connect time. A boy staring at a poster grows into a manager pacing the Anfield touchline, still hearing echoes of the Kop. Postecoglou described arriving early for his first visit as a Premier League manager, wanting a private moment beneath the famous sign.

“I promised myself… I’m going to walk through the tunnel beneath the sign just for my dad… to say we kind of made it.”

It was not about tactics or systems or press conferences. It was about gratitude. About telling a parent who never saw your greatest success that the journey mattered.

Then came the coincidence only football can script. “I turn around and it’s Sir Kenny,” Postecoglou said. The boyhood poster had stepped off the wall and into the corridor. “I’ve just walked through the Anfield tunnel with Kenny Dalglish, the guy that I had on my walls.”

There are moments in football that defy analysis. This was one of them.

Dalglish legacy beyond statistics

Dalglish’s record at Liverpool explains plenty. Over 500 appearances, more than 170 goals, countless assists and an era of league titles and European Cups. Yet numbers alone do not explain why a coach raised on the other side of the world still trembles at Anfield.

Dalglish represented grace under pressure, humility in triumph, humanity in grief. He embodied Liverpool’s identity. That legacy travelled across continents because it was about more than trophies. It was about belonging.

Every supporter knows this feeling. Ask anyone who grew up watching Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard or Mohamed Salah, and they will tell you heroes are stitched into memory like family heirlooms. For Postecoglou, Dalglish was that figure. The link between father and son. Between childhood and career.

Modern rivalry softened by shared respect

Liverpool’s modern era under Arne Slot has produced new rivalries and fresh narratives, yet stories like Postecoglou’s remind us football retains its human core. Managers shout across touchlines, clubs battle for points, but admiration lingers beneath.

Postecoglou’s Liverpool obsession does not weaken his professionalism. It enriches it. It reminds us coaches are supporters first, dreamers before strategists.

And it tells us something about Liverpool too. Anfield is more than bricks and seats. It is memory, promise and pilgrimage. A place where an Australian manager can whisper thanks to his father and shake hands with his childhood idol.

Dalglish gave Liverpool greatness. Liverpool gave Postecoglou belief. Football gave us a story worth telling.

Timing is everything in the NFL market right now. The league is regularly seeing $25 million per year per team salary cap increases (roughly $800 million in cap increases league-wide). Clubs are also spending an average of 10 percent over the salary cap in cash spending for players, which is only compounding on top of those $25 million per year increases. The new meta is to lock in the players you’re confident in keeping to long-term deals as quickly as possible, before prices continue to rise. The leaders on this front are the Philadelphia Eagles, who have been executing this “pay early and lock in prices” plan for the last five or so years.

One of the Green Bay Packers’ biggest priorities this offseason should be to get a long-term deal done with receiver Christian Watson, who is eligible to earn an extension, despite recently signing a one-year extension, because of the unique structure of his deal. If the Packers are going to pay him long-term, they should make it a priority to get his contract signed before Alec Pierce signs a multi-year deal.

Here’s why.

First of all, Pierce is the sixth-best free agent in 2026, according to the consensus. If he doesn’t get a deal done with his Indianapolis Colts, he will be one of the hottest names on the open market and will almost certainly be the subject of a bidding war. If he does re-sign with the Colts, though, it would probably take a massive deal to get him to opt out of being the subject of a bidding war. Either way, he’s going to get paid very soon.

The biggest benefit that the Packers have right now is that Watson is still a year away from free agency, meaning that it’s on Watson to take on the risk of his 2026 performance, should an injury pop up or something along those lines. That’s one reason why Watson and Watson’s camp would probably like to get a deal done in 2026, not 2027. On Green Bay’s end, they probably want to get a deal done before the salary cap jumps up again in 2027 or Pierce potentially resets the market for a player of Watson’s talent.

Stylistically, it’s hard to find a better comp for Watson than Pierce. They’re both long, vertical receivers who produced best at the end of their rookie contracts and were both drafted in the second round of the 2022 draft. The comparisons are so similar that if negotiations happen between the Packers and Watson after the Pierce contract is inked, both sides will probably accept that Watson will be getting something close to a copy-paste job of Pierce’s deal, be it with Green Bay or elsewhere (if the Packers don’t have the stomach to pay it).

Below are the average per year (APY) of the top 22 receivers in the NFL under 30 years old, which is relevant because age is very much a factor for payment in the league:

• Ja’Marr Chase: $40,250,000
• Justin Jefferson: $35,000,000
• CeeDee Lamb: $34,000,000
• D.K. Metcalf: $32,999,882
• Garrett Wilson: $32,500,000
• A.J. Brown: $32,000,000
• Amon-Ra St. Brown: $30,002,500
• Brandon Aiyuk: $30,000,000
• Tee Higgins: $28,750,000
• Jaylen Waddle: $28,250,000
• D.J. Moore: $27,500,000
• Jameson Williams: $26,666,667
• DeVonta Smith: $25,000,000
• Nico Collins: $24,250,000
• Michael Pittman, Jr.: $23,333,333
• Jerry Jeudy: $17,500,000
• Khalil Shakir: $13,250,000
• Darnell Mooney: $13,000,000
• Rashod Bateman: $12,250,000
• Darius Slayton: $12,000,000
• Travis Hunter: $11,662,278
• Christian Watson: $11,000,000

There are not that many players making between Travis Hunter’s rookie contract APY and the $23 million per year right now — and there’s only one sub-30-year-old receiver between the $23.3 million and $13.25 million range, if you can believe it. Watson is already making an $11 million APY, which was the number negotiated when he still coming off his ACL tear. His APY will almost certainly increase after his 2025 performance.

Right now, the Packers might be able to negotiate this Watson contract between the massive gap between $23.3 million and $13.25 million per year. If Pierce, a similar player to Watson, hits the open market and signs, though, that option probably goes out the window, as the Pierce contract will inform both sides of what Watson’s market could be in 2027. That’s why timing is incredibly important for this extension, specifically. Green Bay has other deals they probably want to get done this offseason, notably Tucker Kraft, Devonte Wyatt and probably Lukas Van Ness, but this is the one potential extension where timing is a premium factor, because of the gaps in the receiver market and a player proxy (Pierce for Watson) expected to be on the market.

For what it’s worth, Spotrac, which has some really conservative estimates this year, expects Pierce to sign a $20.2 million per year deal this offseason. I’m going to guess that he’ll get similar to Jameson Williams, another speedster who is Detroit’s number two option and received $26.7 million per on his second contract in the league. Like Pierce and Watson, Williams was also drafted in the 2022 class.

Here’s how the receiver trio’s career stats have stack up:

• Williams: 148 receptions for 2,513 yards and 17 touchdowns
• Pierce: 157 receptions for 2,934 yards and 17 touchdowns
• Watson: 133 receptions for 2,264 yards and 20 touchdowns

It’s just a smart idea for Green Bay to get this contract done with Watson as soon as possible. The team shouldn’t wait for Pierce to get a Williams-like deal or get hit with the $28.8 million franchise tag this offseason.

Several sources in Italy claim that Luciano Spalletti will switch to a three-man defence following Gleison Bremer’s injury and a poor defensive record that has seen the Bianconeri concede 13 goals in the last four games.

Juventus coach Spalletti will return to a three-man defence in the next Serie A match against Como, according to several Italian sources, including Gazzetta, Sky Sport and Corriere della Sera.

Juventus switch to three-man defence

PARMA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 01: Bremer of Juventus celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Francisco Conceicao during the Serie A match between Parma Calcio 1913 and Juventus FC at Stadio Ennio Tardini on February 01, 2026 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

The Bianconeri host Cesc Fabregas’ side at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday, and they’ll be forced to cope without Bremer, who suffered a minor muscle injury against Galatasaray on Tuesday.

The Brazilian setback adds further pressure on a Bianconeri defence that conceded 13 goals in the last four games across all competitions.

Juventus have won just one of their last five games, losing three and drawing once.

Federico Gatti already replaced Bremer against Galatasaray and is expected to feature in the Bianconeri XI against Como as well.

MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 14: Luciano Spalletti, Head Coach of Juventus, reacts during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Juventus FC at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on February 14, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

According to Gazzetta, Teun Koopmeiners and Lloyd Kelly will complete the Old Lady’s backline against Como.

Spalletti is also short of options in attack, with both Dusan Vlahovic and Jonathan David injured.

The only other centre-forward in the team, Lois Openda, started on the bench against Galatasaray and Weston McKennie was used as a false nine.

TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 12: Weston McKennie of Juventus FC celebrates a goal during the Serie A match between Juventus FC and US Cremonese at Allianz Stadium on January 12, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

According to reports, Openda and McKennie both have a chance to start in attack against Como, even if Kenan Yildiz is also an option for Spalletti.

The Italian tactician will provide the latest team news on the eve of the game today as he’ll hold a pre-match press conference at 16:00 CET.