After seven substitute appearances in the league amounting to the equivalent of under two full matches, Jurgen Klopp has declared Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain “is like dynamite” every time he’s introduced for Liverpool.

The Reds parted with up to £40 million to sign the versatile Englishman from Arsenal in the summer, despite his contract in north London expiring at the end of the 2017-18 term. He inked what was believed to be a five-year deal on Merseyside, but is yet to play regular minutes in the central midfield role he apparently craved.

Still, following no assists, goals, and just one completed dribble in Premier League play for Liverpool, Klopp is impressed after Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cameo in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town.

“He has shown his class each and every time he has had the opportunity on the pitch and the weekend was another example of this,” Klopp wrote in This is Anfield. “He is like dynamite when he comes on. Aggressive in the most positive way. Front foot always. Looking to attack and create. These performances come because of how good his attitude is in training at Melwood. He has the highest quality in everything he does; sometimes I think he is the last to realise this.”

At Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain was more regularly deployed as a speedy winger, but Arsene Wenger’s change to a 3-4-3 shape saw the Southampton product crop up in a greater variety of positions. He appeared a natural fit as a wing-back, but is believed to have been most fond of playing in the middle of the park. He also played as a right-back in the Gunners’ opening day defeat of Leicester City.

With next summer’s World Cup in Russia looming, Oxlade-Chamberlain will be desperate for more game time soon. He’s squabbling for minutes in a midfield three with Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, and Marko Grujic. Competition will be increased further when Adam Lallana, England’s Player of the Year for 2016, returns from injury sometime after November’s international break.

“I am sure he is greedy for more starting selections and of course that opportunity will come,” Klopp continued. “He is very much in the infancy of his Liverpool life, but the ‘world’ in 2017 doesn’t always allow for patience. He is doing everything right in this moment and because of this I know he will be a big success for us.”

Liverpool faces Maribor at Anfield on Wednesday. The Reds were rampant in the reverse fixture two weeks ago, running out 7-0 winners in Slovenia to claim a slender advantage atop Champions League Group E.

Karim Benzema accused former players in the media of “spreading hatred” in his rebuttal to Gary Lineker’s suggestion that the Real Madrid forward is overrated.

Lineker, a former Leicester City and Barcelona striker, caused a stir when examining Benzema’s form in front of goal and concluding the Frenchman is only a “decent” forward considering the cast of superstars in the Spanish capital.

Ahead of Real Madrid’s match against Tottenham at Wembley Stadium, Benzema responded by pointing out that players such as Lineker faced similar critiques during their playing days and suggested that the BBC Sport presenter was out of order.

“I find it harder to accept the criticism of former players who have gone on to become journalists and who spread their hatred around,” Benzema said, according to the Independent’s Jack Austin.

“They had the same difficulties, but have no solidarity. I feel embarrassed for him, frankly.”

The war of words didn’t end there, as Lineker defended his profession and accused Benzema of overreacting.

The first former FIFA officials to stand trial since U.S. prosecutors began investigating the association’s shady practices are accused of agreeing “to receive millions of dollars in bribes” regarding the Copa America Centenario.

Assistant U.S. attorney Keith Edelman told the New York courtroom on Monday that the three defendants weren’t exclusively looking to unlawfully profit from that competition, and “did it year after year, tournament after tournament, bribe after bribe,” as reported by the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland.

The accused trio are:

• Jose Maria Marin – 85-year-old former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation
• Juan Angel Napout – 59-year-old former president of CONMEBOL and the Paraguayan Football Association
• Manuel Burga – 60-year-old former president of the Peruvian Football Federation

All three deny multiple counts of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering; pocketing funds that Edelman suggested could’ve been spent on facilities around the world, and funding women’s and youth teams.

“The defendants cheated the sport in order to line their pockets with money that should have been spent to benefit the game, not themselves,” Edelman said, according to Reuters.

The trial’s primary focus will be on how marketing and sponsorship rights were distributed for the Copa America and the Copa Libertadores, and also domestic competition Copa do Brasil. Edelman says he possesses U.S. government-presented evidence from witness testimony, financial paperwork, covert recordings, and further records that prove corrupt behaviour.

Napout is alleged to have accepted bribes amounting to “over $100,000 at a time.”

The defence attorneys didn’t deny any wrongdoing by FIFA officials in general, but insisted their clients weren’t wrapped up in it. They claimed the U.S. government’s investigation was relying too heavily on the accounts of FIFA employees who had pleaded guilty and were trying to lessen their sentences by becoming whistleblowers for the case.

Marin, Napout, and Burga are expected to receive lengthy sentences if found guilty in a trial that could last around six weeks. Of the 42 charged in the FIFA investigation so far, 24 have pleaded guilty and two have been sentenced.

Between 1927 and 1939, roaming outside-left Eric Brook registered 177 goals over 491 matches for Manchester City, setting a scoring record that went untroubled for 78 years.

Now, despite playing in five fewer seasons and just 264 matches, Sergio Aguero has surpassed that high by netting his 178th for City on Wednesday.

And what a moment to achieve the feat. In an excellent to-and-fro encounter at Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo, Aguero planted a finish into the bottom corner after a 69th-minute counter-attack.

Aguero had equalled Brook’s record in Oct. 21’s 3-0 stroll past Burnley.

Related: How Guardiola’s reimagining of Aguero revives his South American roots

Aguero hit the ground running in the northwest, scoring twice against Swansea City in his 2011 debut. And by the end of that season, Aguero firmly established himself in English football’s history books. The Argentinian slowed down time to skip through outstretched limbs and rifle past Queens Park Rangers’ Paddy Kenny to clinch the club’s first league title in 44 years – sweetly snatching it from the grasp of archrival Manchester United with seconds remaining – and test the vocal chords of commentator Martin Tyler.

There have been plenty of other moments during Aguero’s City stint that will be recalled long after he completes an expected triumphant homecoming to Independiente, his first club based in the province of Buenos Aires. City fans will remember his acute-angle goal past Liverpool’s Pepe Reina in 2013, his hat trick to secure a late victory over Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in 2014, and his five-goal haul to thump Newcastle United in 2015.

In little over six years, Aguero has staved off striking competition from Tevez, Dzeko, and Balotelli, and Stevan Jovetic, Alvaro Negredo, Wilfried Bony, and Kelechi Iheanacho. And despite a perceived “difficult” relationship between Aguero and the team’s newest striking addition, Gabriel Jesus, it’s potentially evolving into the most cohesive partnership yet.

At 29, there’s plenty of time for Aguero to distance himself for much longer than the 78-year cushion Brook enjoyed.