🚨 Arteta's award, Pep's Trent remark, Klopp's City praise, United's injury worries continue, Ange's fighting talk, Koke's contract and more

Today's round-up, featuring Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, and much more!

Good morning everyone and welcome to the latest edition of the Daily Briefing - thanks for reading and hope you enjoy! :-)

Today’s top stories:

• EXCL: Today’s exclusive column from Fabrizio Romano

• 🎧 LISTEN to the Debrief here!

• “Who is Mbappe?” Real Madrid president Florentino Perez jokes with fans

• Plus more from Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham

Arsenal

• Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz: "It shows his character, how he has dealt with all those question marks. He continued to work hard and that's why he's loved by everybody here. We can see his quality and intelligence on the pitch and the contribution he's giving to the team."

• Newcastle interested in signing £120,000 per week Arsenal star [Give Me Sport]

• Mikel Arteta, Premier League manager of the month for February.

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Atlético Madrid

• After new deals for Azpilicueta and Savić until June 2025, Atlético Madrid are advancing in talks to extend Koke’s contract. Short term deal being discussed with positive feelings to get it done soon, talks on about structure of the contract.

Barcelona

• Find out why Hansi Flick remains the favourite to take over from Xavi at Barcelona. Christian Falk has the lowdown.

• What’s the latest on Ronald Araujo’s future? Matteo Moretto has an exclusive update.

• Luis Enrique and Mikel Arteta are the latest additions to the new manager list, and Matteo Moretto gives a brief update on Barca’s plans.

• Lamine Yamal scored a fantastic goal to win the match for Barcelona against Mallorca on Friday night. It’s now 13 G/A contributions this season for the 16-year-old.

Bayern Munich

• Tuchel: “Bryan Zaragoza lacks the language. It's difficult for him in English and German, that's an elementary component. We brought forward the transfer to gain some time. It was already clear to me that this was a very big step for him. We feel that now. We see his quality, but we also notice that the integration is not complete from the language side. That's why he will get time from us.”

Chelsea

• Pochettino: “I really believe we can succeed. We were there fighting for the first trophy. We fully deserved after 90 minutes to win the game. We had beaten teams like Brighton and Newcastle to arrive vs Liverpool. We believe we can get close to the positions to access European football.”

• Si Phillips has an exclusive on the new left-back target under consideration by Chelsea.

Crystal Palace

• Glasner on Dougie Freedman link with Man United: "It confirms Palace have a great sporting director, a great person. He knows all the players all over the world, and he's a fantastic person as well. I can confirm that after two weeks in touch with him."

Liverpool

• Xabi Alonso is being touted as the new manager of Liverpool, and Christian Falk has an exclusive update on how far down the road the Reds are on their mission to land the Spaniard.

• Klopp: “Am I allowed to say the Anfield atmosphere is second to none or is everyone going to be offended by that? It is really good, energising. These are the games you want to play.”

• Klopp: “Pep is the best manager in the world. In my lifetime, he’s the outstanding manager. The way he influenced football. Many trophies won but he behaves like he's never won anything… the desire is outstanding. I see excellence. Pep is definitely that.”

• Klopp defends Trent Alexander-Arnold: "Nothing wrong with what he said. One of our slogans is ‘this means more’ and it means more to us... when we're feeling that, why shouldn’t we say it. It's just how he feels and I have no problem. I'm pretty sure he showed respect."

• Klopp is under no illusions how hard Sunday’s game against Man City will be [pictures from Hayters]:

• Christian Falk explains how the dominoes could fall to see Jurgen Klopp as the new coach of the German national team.

• Conversations between Liverpool and Michael Edwards continue, final round of talks revealed 10 days ago, with the Reds still pushing. Richard Hughes remains a strong candidate as part of the new structure in case Edwards will accept the job.

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Manchester City

• TNT Sports asked Pep Guardiola: “Will football people understand the magnitude of City success when you leave?” Pep’s response: “I don’t want to leave.”

• Man City ready to shell out €150m on 24-year-old [Fichajes]

• Pep Guardiola was in no mood to engage with journalists over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s words on Man City’s spending [pictures from Sky Sports]:

Manchester United

• Erik Ten Hag gave a fitness update on a number of first-team players [pictures from Hayters]:

• Ten Hag: "We are in the right direction. Imagine we had many more players available and not setbacks and injuries... could easy have 75 wins! You can see there is a bright future for this team. We want to play on maximum levels and when the players aren’t available, good players in key positions, you miss players who have a very high impact on the way we want to play."

• Ten Hag on Tyrell Malacia: "I think it's going to be difficult for him this season to be available. He's back on the pitch, but not in the team and the process had some setbacks for him. He’s still going forwards really slowly and the season is coming to an end.”

• Rasmus Højlund has been awarded the Premier League Player of the Month for February.

Napoli

• Kvaratskhelia's agent Mamuka Jugeli: "We are in talks with Napoli. He will leave the club in the summer only in case they receive a huge amount of money, impossible to reject. I can't mention the number. It will be all clear by the end of May.”

• Napoli warm up for Barcelona test with Torino draw [Football Italia]

Newcastle United

• Jamal Lascelles’ contract has been extended until June 2025, one more season. “He’s an integral player to our squad,” Eddie Howe said. Lascelles, set to stay despite Besiktas interest last January.

• Eddie Howe: “I can confirm that Lewis Hall’s permanent move is close to being triggered. He will stay here for many years to come.” Chelsea would receive fee close to £30m from Hall deal.

• Eddie Howe: "We are still trying from the club side to reach an agreement with Joelinton over a new deal, we are desperate to keep him. There's been no major changes to the situation but we are trying, we are on it."

• Eddie Howe on Andy Howe’s promotion: “His role has always been very prominent in recruitment. He's played a huge part in the signings of some key players. When I look at the role in recruiting Bruno, Tino, Tonali, Harrison Ashby, Anthony Gordon, he was absolutely prominent in those key signings for the football club. He's done an outstanding job and as I say, the title change is just recognition for what he has done.”

Real Madrid

• Xabi Alonso advised to wait for Real Madrid job [Diario AS]

• “Who is Davies? Who is Mbappé?” Florentino Pérez joking with Real Madrid fans asking him to sign both players for next season to win titles. The Real Madrid president turned 77 yesterday.

Stuttgart

• Sebastian Hoeneß signs a new long term deal at VfB Stuttgart to stay as head coach until June 2027. He was one of many names linked with the Bayern job.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Fighting talk from Ange Postecoglou when asked about fifth place being a possible route into next season’s Champions League [pictures from Hayters]:

• Ange Postecoglou: “Pedro Porro has trained with the team so he's now available. He’s back. The rest are still in rehab.”

• Tottenham have €17m buy option clause for Timo Werner. Postecoglou: "He's been really important. We threw him straight in. He's made an impact but I think he can get even better, I'm sure."

• Djed Spence on Antonio Conte’s comments about him being a ‘club signing’ when he joined Spurs: "I didn’t really have a relationship with Conte at Spurs, to be honest. I don't think he has much of a relationship with his players. It's about coming into training and training."

Valencia

• Great to see Mouctar Diakhaby smiling after the operation following the terrible injury last Saturday.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Gary O'Neil: "I’m not available for any other jobs. I love it here at Wolves, I'm happy. My contract? No talks took place as of yet, but my focus is on the team. My contract isn’t the priority at the moment."