Izuchukwu OkosiLiverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Reds’ Carabao Cup game away at the Vitality Stadium against Bournemouth.
The coach also spoke on the global attention to the kidnap of the parents of forward Luis Diaz.
Diaz’s parents were kidnapped last week in his native Colombia which sparked wide outrage including the country’s president.
The player’s mother was secured but his father is still in the hands of his underworld.
Consequently, Diaz played no part in the team’s league game against Brentford.
“We have to try to support him as much as we can, a lot of things are out of our hands. We hope the authorities can find his dad, we pray for that. As long as we do the right thing for him, he is one of us.
“The team responded brilliantly by putting the shirt up, and the way the stadium reacted was a special moment. Our motto is You’ll Never Walk Alone. So we just pray for a good situation.”
The Colombian Police has offered to reward anybody with useful information about the whereabout and possible release of the player’s father.
Lijnders on team news ahead of the game against the Cherries said: “Stefan Bajetic is definitely not available, Curtis Jones trained yesterday, he has made unbelievable steps. He is available.”
On squad rotation: “It’s the quality of the players, our squad is full of potential. In the Toulouse game [in the Europa League], we made eight changes and kept our identity. That comes from training, meetings, videos, our players’ hunger and desire, they all want to achieve.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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