01 January 2024 , 05:00
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It's official: Liverpool are the Premier League's leaders at the start of 2024.
Jurgen Klopp's side sit first in the table, leading Aston Villa in second on goal difference. Manchester City in third and Arsenal in fourth are both two points further back, while there are just three points separating Liverpool and Tottenham in fifth. Crucially, the Reds have a game in hand on all of their rivals expect Pep Guardiola's champions.
Liverpool can extend their lead on New Year's Day, as Newcastle travel to Anfield. That promises to be a thrilling match after what happened at St James' Park earlier in the season, when Darwin Nunez scored a late brace to snatch a 2-1 win for the visitors. Although Liverpool have made a brilliant start to the campaign, they may need reinforcements this month. Here are the latest transfer headlines from Merseyside...
Carvalho returns to Liverpool
Klopp has one more player in his first-team squad after Fabio Carvalho's season-long loan deal at RB Leipzig was cut short. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder failed to score in any of his 15 appearances for the German side, spending plenty of time on the bench.
"Due to the quality and competition within our squad at his position, we are unable to guarantee this for him," said Leipzig's sporting director Rouven Schroder. "We held several discussions over the last days and in the end, decided to end his loan early."
Chelsea complete record-breaking Enzo Fernandez transfer after deadline day rush
Legend snubbed City
Manchester City tried to sign Daniel Agger 11 years ago (Getty Images)Liverpool icon Daniel Agger has revealed how he snubbed a move from Merseyside to Manchester City back in 2012. The defender, who made 232 appearances for the Reds between 2006 and 2014, made the claim on John Aldridge's 'Aldo Meets' podcast.
Agger said: "They agreed a price (with Barcelona) and they accepted it and came to me and said, 'This is it'. I said, 'Okay fair enough'. But then from the side, another offer came in which was a lot higher, which they accepted and I didn’t want to go to that club.
"I said, 'If you want to sell me I go down there (to Barcelona) otherwise I don’t go'. And another offer came in from the same club (City), higher, and my feeling was that the club wanted me to go because it was a lot of money back then."
Agger told Liverpool "there's no chance I'm going to that club, so better just stop now". Aldridge then asked Agger if "that club" was City, to which he replied: "Yeah."
Ex-players land jobs
Former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam has been announced as Fleetwood's new head coach. It's the 38-year-old's first job in management. "I'm delighted to join a club I know well and one which we feel we can make a real difference with," Adam said.
Adam isn't the only former Liverpool star to bag a new job. Harry Kewell, who won the Champions League with the Reds in 2005, has become the boss of Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos. He's previously managed Crawley, Notts County, Oldham and Barnet.