Florian Wirtz has admitted that it “might take a few more games” for him to adapt and score for Liverpool, after netting a brilliant free-kick for Germany.

While we have seen glimpses of Wirtz’s fantastic awareness and remarkable technical ability, he hasn’t yet set the Premier League alight with his talent.

He did, though, figure prominently for Germany on Sunday night, as he scored a long-range free-kick in a 3-1 win over Conor Bradley‘s Northern Ireland.

Following the game, when asked by broadcaster RTL (h/t GGFN) about when he hopes to score his first goal for Liverpool, Wirtz replied: “It might take a few more games.

“It’s a different league, a different kind of football.

“When will I score for the first time? I have no idea, hopefully in the next game. It will come eventually.”

Wirtz has every reason to remain confident in himself. He is just 22 years old and has plenty of time to develop.

While Liverpool will want their £116 million signing to progress significantly in the coming months, it must be acknowledged that he is not yet the finished article.

• Virgil van Dijk has had the main stand named after him at Sportpark Prinsenhoeve, where Willem II’s youth team play – it was great that the captain could be present for the occasion, too

• Liverpool have confirmed the appointment of new head of loan management Gary Probert – he joins from Ipswich where he was director of football operations for nearly four years

• Hugo Ekitike has said Alexander Isak will provide “tough competition,” but he expected “to be competing with the best players” when signing for Liverpool anyway – a good attitude, Hugo!

Jason McAteer lived the dream playing for Liverpool, but he was forced to turn down idol Kenny Dalglish in order to do so! Joel Richards interviewed the former Reds right-wing back:

“I was having talks with Blackburn. I was literally in the room with Kenny when Liverpool rang my agent and he said they’d agreed the fee, I’m free to go and talk to Liverpool if I don’t sign for Blackburn,” said McAteer.

“I mean, Kenny was my hero, but Liverpool was my team that I supported. So, I had an emotional attachment to both, but I wanted to be Kenny at Liverpool. I didn’t want to play for Kenny at Blackburn.”

READ: ‘I turned down Dalglish to sign for Liverpool – I didn’t care about wages, it was my club!’

• Man City and the Premier League have reached a settlement in their dispute over the rules governing associated party transactions (APTs) – read more here

• Athletic Bilbao defender Yeray Alvarez has been banned until April 2, after taking a banned substance found in a medicine used to prevent hair loss following his cancer treatment (BBC Sport)

• Former Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand has been appointed as Bayer Leverkusen‘s new manager, replacing Erik ten Hag who lasted just three games in the job

Liverpool could have as many as four internationals involved on Monday night, Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Giovanni Leoni and Alexander Isak‘s nations all play.

Scotland’s World Cup qualifying away match, against Belarus, is to be broadcast on BBC Scotland and BBC Three, while Leoni’s match with Italy will be shown on Amazon Prime.

The Italians are in Hungary to face Israel, while Tsimikas’ Greece are in action at home to Denmark – this match is also on Amazon Prime.

Isak could feature from the bench for Sweden against Kosovo, but the game isn’t being broadcast on UK television.

All these matches kick off at 7.45pm (BST).

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Liverpool have made the notable decision to synchronise training times across the academy and first team, while the academy director has relocated his office to work more closely with Arne Slot.

In recent years, the Reds have been working to strengthen the bond between the academy and the first team, starting in November 2020 when the senior squad moved training ground from Melwood to the site of the youth teams in Kirkby.

Jurgen Klopp was known for his willingness to play youngsters, and the development of this link to the youth teams is now growing with Slot as head coach.

The Athletic‘s James Pearce reports that a new development this season “has seen synchronisation of training times for the first team, under-21s and under-18s, with most sessions starting at 11:45am.”

This has allowed for flexibility in youngsters being moved, when needed, over to the first-team pitches to play with the senior squad.

This should improve the development of Liverpool’s young prospects even further, given the standard and intensity of training they will experience around Mo Salah and co.

The aforementioned move from Melwood made this far easier, and this is just another step in the right direction.

In addition, Pearce wrote: “Alex Inglethorpe (academy director) speaks regularly to Slot, who invited him to do some coaching with the first team in pre-season last summer.”

“Ties have been further strengthened since he recently relocated from his office in the academy to one in the first-team building.”

• READ: Liverpool’s academy to undergo £20 million redevelopment

This news of training synchronisation came at the same time as the Athletic reporting that Liverpool are planning a £20 million redevelopment of the Kirkby academy.

Liverpool will submit a planning application this month, with the aim of completing the project by 2028, which highlights the changes that will be made.

An indoor dome will be built on the current main pitch and connect to the existing building at Kirkby, though this will temporarily displace home matches for the U21s and U19 Youth League.

The club are also seeking to enhance their medical and sports science areas within the academy set up, with FSG viewing the redevelopment as recognition for the academy’s role in the club’s recent success.

Inglethorpe said: “We’ve always been patient as an academy, knowing where we sit in the order of things, but now it’s our turn and it’s really exciting.

“We’ve never had a full-size indoor facility before that would match up with a lot of our competitors. While I’m all for toughening them up in the Kirkby wind and rain, there are a lot of days when we have to cancel training or the quality of a session is compromised.

“It’s going to make a massive difference. We’re already reaping the benefits of the changes made this summer.

“It’s important for the boys and their families to see that investment. I’ve always felt supported and there’s recognition from the club that we have contributed a lot in terms of player sales.”

Over £100m, in fact, was generated this summer from selling players who had played in the academy, and the redevelopment of the youth teams’ facilities is viewed as a long-term investment for the club.

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Manchester City and the Premier League have reached a settlement in their dispute over the rules governing associated party transactions (APTs).

Under the settlement, City accept that the current rules governing APTS are “valid and binding”.

City had launched arbitration proceedings on January 20 against the current rules, which are designed to ensure that deals between clubs and entities linked to their ownership are done at fair market value.

City’s challenge was understood to have included criticism of the way the Premier League treated shareholder loans under the rules.

The league and City have agreed to make no further comment on the matter.

The APT rules were originally introduced in December 2021, following the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle earlier that year.

Those rules were successfully challenged by City last year, with a tribunal finding them unlawful on multiple grounds, including the fact they excluded shareholder loans from fair market value assessments.

That led to the Premier League consulting with clubs on amendments to the rules, with 16 teams voting in favour of the amended rules at a meeting last November.

City’s acceptance the amended rules are valid and binding appears to put to bed an issue which had threatened to have a major impact on the league if the rules had been significantly weakened.

Without APT rules, entities linked to clubs’ owners could potentially overvalue sponsorships and other commercial transactions to boost a club’s revenue, putting that club in a stronger position under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and therefore given more leeway to spend on transfer fees and player wages.

An assessment of shareholder loans for fair market value was incorporated into the APT rules last November, but the rules do not apply retrospectively.

Instead, the fair market assessment only applies to ongoing and future loans. The rules also allowed a grace period for shareholders to convert such loans to equity.

Among other changes approved in November was the introduction of the right for clubs to access databank information – used by the Premier League board to make a fair market value assessment – at an earlier stage.

City and the Premier League still await the outcome of an independent commission hearing which was examining more than 100 charges against the club for alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules, charges City strenuously deny.

The hearing took place between September and December last year, after City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023.

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