The Anfield club lodged a formal bid of €30 million with Anzhi Makhachkala for the Brazil international and are hopeful of completing the deal within

By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Liverpool are confident of beating Tottenham to the signing of Brazilian winger Willian, Goal understands.

The Merseysiders hope to reach an agreement with his club Anzhi Makhachkala in the next 48 hours after lodging a formal bid of €30 million for the in-demand forward.

Liverpool have indicated that they are willing to match Willian’s current €100,000-a-week salary in order to convince him to move to Anfield.

Goal understands that the Reds have also attempted to smooth negotiations with Anzhi by offering the Russian club a sell-on clause in which they would receive 50 per cent of the profits of any future sale.

Tottenham have also held talks about buying Willian, who is a long-term target of theirs, but are not yet believed to have made an offer.

The 25-year-old is expected to make a decision about his next destination by Tuesday night, with the likelihood growing that a deal could be formalised by the middle of the week.

Liverpool are looking to take advantage of the firesale at Anzhi, who are trying to offload some of their biggest earners, who also include Samuel Eto’o, in an attempt to trim costs.

Meanwhile, Aly Cissokho is expected to undertake a medical on Monday ahead of completing a season-long loan move to Liverpool from Valencia. The Merseysiders are believed to have the option to sign the French left-back on a permanent basis for around €4.6m in 12 months’ time.

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The England midfielder’s camp are unsure over his long-term chances at the Etihad Stadium and plan to speak with director of football Txiki Begiristain in the next fortnight

BARRY FEARS OVER MAN CITY CONTRACT EXTENSION

Gareth Barry has suffered more than most with the changes at Manchester City following the arrival of new boss Manuel Pellegrini.

The midfielder, 32, is out of contract next year and was waiting to speak with the club about their plans for him and whether he has a long-term future at the Etihad Stadium.

City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, has been out of the country repeatedly since the end of last season meaning discussions over new deals for many of the club’s stars have been put on hold.

The Barry camp fear a new proposal is not forthcoming, despite the England man being an important part of former manager Roberto Mancini’s first-team squad, but now plan to speak with the ex-Barca chief before the end of the transfer window.

– Paul Clennam

QATARI BACKERS PULL PLUG ON NEXTGEN

Organisers of the NextGen Series announced on Friday that it has been cancelled this season because of a lack of funding.

The Sweeper understands that the international youth competition, which is made up of 24 elite club academies across 12 European countries, has been postponed because its mysterious Qatari backers pulled the plug on their handouts.

Rumours first surfaced at the end of last season that NextGen was struggling to meet its costs for the forthcoming campaign but these were vehemently denied to Goal at the time by the tournament organisers.

However, the financial burden of paying for the competing teams’ travel and accommodation has proved too much for NextGen without its principal backers.

The opening two seasons of the competition are believed to have been funded by wealthy investors from Qatar but they were unwilling to continue to do so.

Attempts to source a sponsor for this season’s tournament failed, which left the organisers with little option but to pull the plug.

This will be regarded with some relief by European governing body Uefa, who will host the inaugural Uefa Youth League this season. The Under-19s tournament, made up of the junior equivalents of the 32 teams competing in the Champions League, is widely believed to have been launched to limit the influence of NextGen.

– Wayne Veysey

MAN UTD STARS ALLOWED TO USE SECRET TRAINING GROUND ENTRANCE

Manchester United stars have it their own way after all.

They were up in arms last season when told they could no longer use the private dirt track road, which is away from prying eyes at their Carrington HQ.

Owners Shell UK wanted to impose a six-figure annual toll charge.

The pair have now reached an agreement and United stars have again started to use the secret entrance.

– Paul Clennam

The Reds manager is content that Arsenal’s interest will not come to fruition after the in-demand striker attended his side’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Stoke City

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says that “everything has been resolved” regarding the future of Luis Suarez.
Arsenal have pursued the Uruguayan for much of the summer but have not upped their bid from their most recent, which was over £40 million, and the Reds boss was adamant on Friday that the saga would not “sabotage” his club’s season.

But the forward was in attendance as Liverpool opened the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Stoke City and Rodgers seemed content that there would be no more question of an exit.

“The only thing I will say about Luis is that I am very satisfied how everything has been resolved and now we can move on,” the victorious manager told the press.

“He is a part of this team and this club. The supporters are a class act here and it is the classic Liverpool way to support the players and the manager.”

Suarez is unavailable for the next five games as he continues to serve a 10-match ban incurred last season for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.