James Pearce has informed Liverpool fans of the contract situations regarding three members of Jurgen Klopp’s leadership group at Anfield.
The Athletic ran a piece in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the title ‘Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool contracts: What we’re hearing’, with the publication’s LFC correspondent going into details about the futures of that pivotal trio, each of whom see their current deals expire in June 2025.
It’s pointed out in the article that the club haven’t yet entered discussions over renewals due to an eagerness to avoid ‘any unwanted distractions’ amid the Reds’ Premier League title challenge, and there’s a belief within Anfield that all three ‘know how highly they are valued’.
There’s ‘no sense of unease’ about potentially losing any of them to free transfers in 18 months’ time, with none of the trio likely to leave before then ‘as things stand’.
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Pearce’s comprehensive update suggests that Liverpool fans shouldn’t worry for now regarding the futures of Salah, Van Dijk or Trent.
As the journalist noted, the Reds’ rejection of a £150m offer from Saudi Arabia for the Egyptian in September speaks volumes for how highly they regard him, while the other two were elevated to captain and vice-captain respectively last summer after Jordan Henderson and James Milner left the club.
Also, the forward had been about to enter the final year of his contract at the time of his previous renewal in July 2022 (BBC Sport), so Anfield chiefs might be content to wait for this season to play out before stepping up efforts to keep the trio on Merseyside beyond 2025.
It should be noted, too, that Jorg Schmadtke is set to depart later this year after fulfilling his remit of overseeing a squad overhaul last summer. His replacement as sporting director could instead be tasked with prioritising the safeguarding of key players such as Salah, Van Dijk and Trent.
If Liverpool can maintain their Premier League title challenge right to the end of the campaign, and if (as seems likely) those three players play a major part in that, in theory it shouldn’t require any massive persuasion to get them to commit to the Reds for another few years.