John Barnes has expressed his disbelief, calling it “unthinkable” that Liverpool have yet to initiate contract talks with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil van Dijk.
The trio’s current contracts expire in the summer of 2025, but no new deals have been agreed upon, raising concerns among Liverpool fans.
Both Michael Edwards, the club’s chief executive of football, and sporting director Richard Hughes faced significant scrutiny from supporters this summer for not addressing the players’ futures and for only making a single signing – Federico Chiesa.
Despite the concerns, John Barnes, who spent a decade at Anfield, remains confident that the club has a plan in place, even if it means potentially allowing one of the three to leave on a free transfer.
Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes, the official betting partner of Liverpool, the 60-year-old said: “It’d be virtually unthinkable for there have been no conversations at all between club and players.
“I just cannot see it. So they’ll have a handle on it.
“They’re not stupid.
“I’m sure they’ve got it under control.
“There might be an announcement in the next month, let’s say, that one of them has signed a new four-year deal and everybody was thinking, why were we all worried?
“There might be one of them being lined up to be sold on or to go out as a free, but whatever it is, they will have their plans in place.
“This has not just crept up on them in the last week at Liverpool.
“They will have plans in place and all it is is for the people like me to discuss what ought to happen, whether they should sign these players on, whether they should sell them and all the rest of it.”
Barnes added: “On the flip side, Salah might have be in the last rungs of negotiation and they might be just adding one or two final touches to the contract and he’s going to sign a new four-year contract.
“There will have been conversations with all three players for a period of time now. Absolutely.”
Read more: Ange Postecoglou makes Tottenham trophy claim after Arsenal defeat
Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji reveals when he will retire from football
