Starting January 1, Liverpool’s trio of Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Mohamed Salah can speak to foreign Clubs as they could become free agents if no resolutions on their contract situations are made before June next year.
It’s more of a symbolic date than anything else. The rules state that, from that moment, clubs from other countries can approach a player who has entered the final six months of his current contract.
Liverpool has offered new contracts to all three players, who are also in the leadership group with Van Dijk being the leader.
Van Dijk has been more diplomatic when asked about his future however, he stated that he believes he can continue playing at the highest level for a few more years.
“I love the club, the club loves me,” he told broadcaster Amazon Prime before that Boxing Day game against Leicester. As with Salah, his preference is to stay at Anfield.
Salah hasn’t been shy to use the media at times to crank up the pressure on the club. Asked by Sky Sports after the win over West Ham if he was able to provide some good news on the ongoing discussions, he said: “No. We’re far away from that. Nothing has really moved on. For now, the only thing on my mind is Liverpool winning the league and I want to be part of that.”
However, the contributions of both Van Dijk and Salah in this campaign has emphasized their importance to the club – the Egyptian scoring 20 goals and assisting 17 times in all competitions this season. The most of any player in Europe’s top leagues. There is a belief amongst a section of the Liverpool fanbase that both Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah had already agreed new deals with the Club.
In Alexander-Arnold’s case, it is thought that Liverpool’s decision to leave contract talks so late has been a significant factor for him even to contemplate a move elsewhere. It is not entirely the fault of Sporting Director Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards, the CEO of football for Fenway Sports Group as the two men in charge inherited the contract situation from their predecessors. However, there is mutual respect between all parties involved in the contract talks for the player.
Unlike Salah and Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold has remained tight-lipped to his initial stance his contract talks in the past haven’t been publicized.
Speaking after Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Leicester City on Boxing Day, Slot said: “It’s clear that from January 1, maybe for you guys (in the media), things change a lot, but they are in constant talks with the club. Let’s wait and see what happens. As long as they keep performing like this, I’m happy.”
Former Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher shared on his X (formerly Twitter) page that believes the Liverpool right-back’s camp may have encouraged Real Madrid to make the offer knowing well that the Club would reject it. This he said is an attempt to “try & cover themselves when he leaves for free.”
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