With the trio of Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Virgil Van Dijk all being out of contract this season, Mersey Sport Live dove into the stats to see whether The Reds can afford to lose them.
The trio have adapted brilliantly to the new regime under Arne Slot, with Salah looking like the best player in the league, if not Europe.
Van Dijk is back to his dominant best, and Alexander-Arnold has continued his brilliant forward play, while also greatly improving his defensive play.
With more talk about Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid rather than renewing at Anfield, The Athletic reporting on Van Dijk’s contract talks breaking down, and Mohamed Salah hinting at exits in his post-game interviews, the future of this star trio remains up in the air going into the winter transfer window.
MOHAMED SALAH
Unsurprisingly, Salah has yet again been Liverpool’s key player this season, taking to life under Arne Slot like a duck to water.
The Egyptian reached double figures for goals and assists in just 17 appearances, making him the fastest Liverpool player to achieve this feat in the last 40 seasons.
The 32-year-old is on course for his best season out of the seven he’s been at Liverpool for, with 27 goal involvements in just 22 games.
While you would expect Salah’s numbers to start to decline over the coming years, his contributions to the team are still exceptional compared to his teammates, and it would take some doing in getting a player that would be able to replicate such figures.
With the allure of Saudi Arabia ever present, it’s critical that Liverpool secure their Egyptian king for at least another season.
Virgil Van Dijk
Although he’s now 33, Van Dijk remains one of, if not the best centre-backs playing the game right now.
According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Liverpool already tabled a contract extension, but there’s been no breakthrough yet in terms of salary and contract length.
After his lengthy injury layoff following his cruciate ligament tear in the Merseyside derby, Van Dijk was back to his best in the quadruple chasing season of 2022/23.
The season that followed however, Van Dijk, like much of the rest of the Liverpool squad looked off the pace. This season so far however, the Liverpool captain is back to his imperious best, reminding Liverpool his importance to the side.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Of all the players that Liverpool could afford to lose, it’s ironically the man born in Liverpool.
Rumours of a move to Real Madrid have heightened since the start of this season, and, opposed to Van Dijk and Salah, more has been made in the press about his touted moved to Spain, rather than extending his contact with the Merseyside outfit.
If the 26-year-old were to make the switch, then Liverpool won’t have to look too far for a replacement, as Conor Bradley looks like a ready made if the right-back slot became vacant at the end of this season.
While it’s an almost insurmountable task to replace Alexander-Arnold’s passing and assisting ability, Bradley’s defensive output has even out-performed Arnold’s
While still a raw talent, the Northern Ireland captain burst onto the scene last season, much like Alexander-Arnold did in his breakthrough season in 2017/18.
But contract talks remain active, and the clock is ticking before the opening of the winter transfer window, meaning pre-contract talks with other clubs can begin.
