Premier League leaders Liverpool to rival Manchester United for signing of American youngster

Liverpool prepare to welcome back one of the club’s greatest ever players on Saturday, as Steven Gerrard returns to Anfield for the first time as manager of Aston Villa. 

The ex-England captain will return to the club that he made more than 500 Premier League appearances for, hoping to continue the good run of form that the Villans have been on since his arrival.

The Reds have enjoyed a strong start to the new campaign, and currently sit top of the table having already topped their Champions League group with six wins from six.

Despite their good run of form, Jurgen Klopp will be wary of next month’s African Cup of Nations, which looks set to take Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Naby Keita and Joel Matip away from Merseyside for a month.

Salah scored his 20th goal of the season during Tuesday’s win over AC Milan and the Egyptian tops both the goals and assists charts in the league so far.

Klopp will be tasked with replacing Salah’s goals during January

His spell on international duty, which could last as long as four weeks, will therefore be tricky for Klopp to navigate, however he appears to already be planning for it.

As per CBS, the Reds will battle it out with top flight rivals Manchester United for the signature of U.S wonderkid Ricardo Pepi.

The 18-year-old, viewed by many in the states as the future of the U.S men’s national side, has been in sensational form for FC Dallas of late, scoring 13 MLS goals this term.

His performances in the American top flight this calendar year have not gone unnoticed, with a host of top clubs from across Europe credited with an interest.

The Texan-born striker has also apparently drawn interest from both Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Dallas will reportedly demand an initial fee of just £7.5 million for the U.S international, who has scored three goals in six senior international appearances.