Fortunate as it was, Liverpool won the first leg of the knockout Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital last week to continue their seemingly ceaseless march toward major honours.
Domestically the Reds look nailed on to secure their 20th top flight title with the Premier League betting odds putting their closest contenders Arsenal at 28/1, with Arne Slot’s men at a phenomenal 3/100.
Despite that there is still consternation on Merseyside as fans nervously wait for news on the contracts of Mohammed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Can the Reds keep hold of their trio of stars? Read on to find out…
Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Running down his Contract…
There are many reasons why Liverpool have been so dominant in the Premier League and Champions League this season. The main reason however is the form of Egyptian forward Mo Salah who was racked up 28 goals and 21 assists across 36 appearances in both competitions.
To put some context behind those figures, that means that on average, Mo Salah has either scored or created a goal for his team every 64 minutes this season, which puts in the same bracket as the true greats of the game.
Unfortunately for Liverpool fans, Salah has wealthy admirers in Saudi Arabia who would very much like to make the Egyptian their star attraction. To do so they are willing to offer him a staggering £500,000 a week – a £150,000 weekly increase on his Liverpool salary – all of which would be tax free.
Noises coming from inside Liverpool suggest that the owners are more than reticent to match that £500,000 deal or sanction it for a full three years. Unfortunately that leaves us in a situation where it’s more than likely that Mo Salah will parade a Premier League trophy around the streets this summer before hopping on a plane to Saudi Arabia and bidding farewell to the club.
(The Saudi’s want Mohammed Salah)
He’s Our Centre-half, His Contract’s Running Down…
He’s Virgil Van Dijk and yes, he might be leaving too. Similarly to Salah, Van Dijk’s main gripes seem to be about his weekly wage and the length of his contract. The Dutchman wants a wage reflecting market value and his ability, and a three-year deal, both of which the owners are again reticent to offer.
Where we would perhaps be more inclined to offer Salah a long deal with increased wages, we do somewhat understand the club’s stance on Van Dijk. In the summer he will be 34 and whilst he has been a great servant for the club, does it make financial sense to be paying a 37-year-old £300,000 a week? Absolutely not.
Also, whilst Van Dijk will certainly have suitors, the club may be content to play hardball for a while knowing that there aren’t many bigger clubs out there who would be willing to offer better deals to the Dutchman than Liverpool.
He’s Everywhere on the Right Side, He’s Going to Real Madrid…
Trent has spent 2 decades at Liverpool after joining as a 6-year-old and in that time has won everything possible to win with the club. What he has also received is an awful lot of grief – mainly from outside of the club, granted – about his demeanour, his attitude and his ability.
Yet despite all that, he has consistently been one of the best full-backs on the planet and is now attracting serious interest from the biggest club on the planet – Real Madrid. Personally, whilst we would obviously be gutted to see Trent leave in the summer we wouldn’t begrudge him the opportunity to go and play for Real.
Spanish football would suit him down to the ground and would give him a welcome break from the negative glare of the English media.
Recently fans have criticised Trent’s potential decision to run down his contract and move to Madrid on a free – and in doing so deny the club of a transfer fee – which in of itself is illustrative of the higher standards that Trent is held to as similar critiques have yet to be made of Salah and Van Dijk.
In Summary
There is a very real possibility that all three will leave Anfield at the end of this season. If we had to speculate as to the likelihood of each player leaving we would be more than happy to bet on Trent leaving for Madrid.
Similarly, we would wager on Salah leaving, albeit with less confidence. In regards to Van Dijk however, we see the possibility of him agreeing a new deal lower than his initial demands just as likely as the prospect of him parting ways with the club.
By the time all of these things come to light however, Liverpool will be Premier League champions and could well be European champions as well.
