The introduction of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson may have helped shore up Liverpool’s defensive unit – but since the turn of the year cracks have begun to appear.

Liverpool sit top of the table, three points clear of Manchester City, and have conceded fewer goals (15) than any side in the division.

But they are without a win in their last two matches and Alisson has kept just one clean sheet so far in 2019. 

Liverpool’s £65million goalkeeper Alisson has kept just one clean sheet so far in 2019

The Brazilian watches as Michail Antonio’s shot secures a West Ham equaliser on Monday

The Brazilian, who joined Liverpool from Roma over the summer for £65million, has conceded from 7 of the 11 shots on target he has faced in the Premier League this year. 

No keeper from the traditional ‘Big Six’ has conceded more league goals in that time and Alisson has also saved only 36.4 per cent of all shots he has faced in the Premier League in 2019.

That means the world’s second-most expensive goalkeeper has the lowest save percentage of anyone who has made at least three Premier League appearances since the turn of the year.

Alisson has saved only 36.4 per cent of all shots he has faced in the Premier League in 2019

Jurgen Klopp’s side have been hit by a defensive injuries to the likes of Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

And following the Reds’ draw with West Ham on Monday, Van Dijk admitted: ”All the players who’ve come in have enough quality to do the job – but when you have a back four that doesn’t change that’s maybe a little bit easier.’

‘We take it game by game, we’re still top of the league. We’re still in the race…so we need to be our best for the rest of the season.’ 

Barcelona have reportedly rejected Nike’s design for a new away kit – because it is too similar to the colours of rivals Real Madrid.

Back in 2016 the La Liga giants agreed a £120-million-a-year extension to their long-running deal with the sportswear giants.

Now, according to Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo, Nike designed an away kit for the 2020/21 season which would commemorate the Catalan patron saint, St George.

Barcelona have reportedly rejected Nike’s design for a new white away kit for 2020/21

It’s claimed the Catalan giants felt the design is too similar to the colours of rivals Real Madrid

The proposed kit for the 2020/21 season

The kit was mainly white with a red cross on the front – the like of which features on the club badge.

But it’s claimed Barcelona rejected the kit because it was too close to Madrid’s famed white home shirt. The two sides meet in El Clasico on Wednesday night.

The La Liga giants are no strangers to wearing white kits – back in the 1970s Johan Cruyff and Co wore white with blue shorts.

But the last time there was a hint of Madrid colours on their shirt was in 1992, when their Kappa kit featured white strips atop the sleeves.

But this caused a stir among the club’s supporters and has since been banned. 

The cross of Sant Jordi, meanwhile, is reportedly controversial in certain non-Catholic countries. 

Barcelona’s current away kit is an eye-catching flourescent yellow but it remains to be seen what they will wear in seasons to come. 

Barcelona legends such as Johan Cruyff have worn white but the design has been shelved

Eden Hazard‘s move to Real Madrid has been dubbed the ‘Courtois Plan’ in Spain with the player running down his contract under assurances from the Spanish club that they will do everything they can to make a transfer happen.

Madrid know it will take more than the £35million they paid to bring in Thibaut Courtois but are also confident that for a player in the final year of his contract as Hazard will be next summer, they will not have to pay £100m to bring in the 28-year-old Belgium international.

Madrid will want to negotiate. And just as Mateo Kovacic signed on loan for Chelsea last summer just as Courtois made the move in the opposite direction so this time players such as Isco and even Marco Asensio could be on the bargaining table.

How Eden Hazard would look in a Real Madrid shirt as his move there grows increasingly likely

Real Madrid are willing to pay Chelsea £100m to bring Belgian star Eden Hazard to Spain

Real’s pursuit of Hazard could easily follow their plan to sign Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois

Madrid’s interest in Hazard goes back to 2017 when it was suggested the player was shown around the club’s Valdebebas training ground ahead of a possible move. 

Kylian Mbappe eventually replaced Hazard as the priority for Real Madrid. As Football Leaks claimed a year later, they bid €180m for the player that summer only to then see him move to Paris Saint-Germain.

In 2018, Hazard was again the target but it was made clear to Real Madrid that with the Neymar to PSG and subsequent Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona deals still fresh in the memory Chelsea would not discuss a sale for anything less than €200m.

This summer, Hazard’s contract situation will be different. His on-going public shows of affection towards Madrid and Madrid’s private openness to signing him all point to the saga reaching its conclusion in 2019.

Isco could be one of the Real players on the bargaining table if Chelsea did their heels in

Marco Asensio could be another play Real are willing to part with to sign Hazard in the summer

As ever, Madrid’s summer plans will be at the mercy of how their season ends. The post-season expenditure will increase in line with how badly they do. Their season was heading for meltdown before the end of the year.

But they are still in three competitions and have been revived by Santiago Solari. 

Regardless of how trophy-laden they finish the year they will prioritise the signing of Hazard. He will not be edged out by a move for Neymar as he was in 2017 by the desire to sign Mbappe.

That does not mean Madrid will not then subsequently move for Neymar too if their predicament demands it and they continue to believe he can be brought back to Spain for little over €200m.

For Hazard life at Madrid will be very different to life at Chelsea. The 18-year-old Brazilian Vinicius Junior has been outstanding this season in Hazard’s favoured left-sided forward berth. 

The Belgian would have to fight for his place and even more so if Madrid also signed Neymar and kept Gareth Bale who for all the campaigns in favour of his sale has a contract until 2022.

He will also have to get used to not being the biggest draw in the squad. 

Hazard would face competition for his place from Real’s young Brazilian star Vinicius Junior

Gareth Bale remains a part of the Real attack and has a Bernabeu contract until 2022

While his interview with RMC made the back-pages in England it was barely picked up in Spain as Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey semi-final with Barcelona took centre-stage and dominated all media on Wednesday morning.

That is unlikely to put Hazard off the move. He admitted ‘My father always told me that I’m too selfless and maybe it’s true,’ the Belgian international said in the build up to last season’s Cup Final. 

That kind of willingness to take a back seat will not necessarily count against him.

He will still be considered a Galatico signing however and the first one since Gareth Bale arrived in 2013. And if Chelsea do squeeze £100m out of Real Madrid then he would immediately become the club’s record signing, at least until they move for Neymar.

Signing Hazard would not necessarily deter Real from making a mega-money bid for Neymar

And Perez will present him as such making plenty out of the fact that it has ‘always been Hazard’s dream’ to play for Real Madrid since he was a kid marvelling at the pirouettes of Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane was the coach who most petitioned for Hazard to be signed. He has not stayed around long enough to manage one of his favourite players but as Hazard has already said Zidane’s absence does not make Madrid any less of a prospect for him.

And if he does arrive in the Spanish capital then Courtois will at least help his integration. The two have remained in contact through the ups and downs of this season. 

When the keeper moved to Madrid last summer he said: ‘If he (Hazard) comes to the club then I will be very happy because he is my friend.’