Liverpool news: Brighton team news, Van Dijk's contract and the January window taking shape

Liverpool's team news for this afternoon's visit of Brighton is a mixed bag, and it shapes up as a test of the squad rather than the eleven. Bradley Barcola is fit to face the Seagulls, which gives Iraola his most direct wide option, but Dominik Szoboszlai is unavailable and Victor Munoz may also miss out.

With the forward line already stretched, Cody Gakpo's situation is being studied closely by the coaching staff, and the Echo reports that two clear shortcomings in the side are hampering Iraola heading into the game. Windy conditions are expected around Anfield, with supporters warned to allow extra time on the roads.

Watch the midfield: without Szoboszlai, the burden of carrying the ball between the lines falls on Alexis Mac Allister and Florian Wirtz.

Virgil van Dijk says momentum is a big thing, and he wants Liverpool to keep the one they have built. Three wins on the spin have steadied the season, the latest a Champions League victory over Villarreal in which Ronald Araujo scored, and the Uruguayan features on the cover of today's matchday programme.

Van Dijk, now 35, is into the final year of his contract and knows better than anyone what a run of results does for a dressing room. The captain's message is simple: do not let the Brighton game be the one where it slips.

A packed Anfield on a windswept afternoon will be watching to see whether his team can back the talk up.

Liverpool are preparing for a summer without two of their senior centre-backs. Van Dijk, 35 and out of contract at the end of the season, and Joe Gomez are both expected to move on, and reports say Liverpool already have deals lined up to cover the losses.

The groundwork has clearly been laid: Jeremy Jacquet, 21, and Giovanni Leoni, 19, arrived as the future, Ronald Araujo is on loan with a buy clause the club must decide whether to trigger, and there is talk of a 2027 move for a £100m-rated defender.

Julian Ward, now sporting director, is said to want a generational winger, while a €60m midfielder and a January move for a 23-year-old Premier League player are also on the agenda. Not all of it will happen. Some of it has to if the squad is to stay at the level Iraola needs.

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Liverpool tried to sign Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli in early 2025, only for the winger to choose Paris Saint-Germain.

It is a reminder of how fine the margins are in the market, and the Echo reports that Liverpool are now among the names linked with the player PSG signed to replace him.

At the other end of the squad, Luke Chambers is expected to leave Anfield in January, with a British club interested in a permanent deal for the left-back who has been cover for Milos Kerkez and Kostas Tsimikas.

Ifeanyi Ndukwe is the other live call: Liverpool have a January recall option on his loan at Levante and have met the Spanish club and the player's representatives to settle his immediate future.

Jayden Danns scored his first goal of the season as Liverpool's U21s came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Chelsea, and one of the academy's most exciting prospects found the net again.

Iraola is said to have made his mind up on one of the young sensations pushing for senior minutes, with a decision also reported on the future of a 23-year-old. The pathway is there and the under-21s are making the most of it. Danns in particular needed that goal; a striker's season can turn on one finish.

Jamie Carragher has revealed his first impression of Xabi Alonso at Liverpool, an X-rated message that will surprise nobody who shared a dressing room with the pair. The two were reunited this week when Carragher visited Chelsea's training ground, where Alonso is now head coach, and the old stories came back out.

Five years ago today Liverpool went to Old Trafford and won 5-0, and the Echo's account of the away end that afternoon is worth a read on a quiet Sunday morning. Different team, different manager, same sense of what this club can do to its biggest rival.