The gamble for Liverpool isn’t in keeping Salah and Van Dijk – it’s in having to replace them

As it stands, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk won’t be Liverpool players next season.

That’s the frightening reality that Reds supporters are left to confront and FSG have less than three months to resolve if they’re to avoid losing two of the club’s all-time greats on free transfers in the summer.

It’s bad enough that Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to be on his way to Real Madrid without a transfer fee being recouped, but if our top scorer and our captain were to follow him out the door, it could be catastrophic.

Liverpool can’t gamble on losing Salah and Van Dijk this summer

As they near the ages of 33 and 34 respectively, some might try to argue that handing lucrative new contracts to Salah and Van Dijk could be a big gamble by Liverpool. Perhaps, but their performances this season suggest that it’s a gamble which could pay rich dividends, like those you could win from the best online casinos UK.

Besides, every single transfer or new contract has an element of risk attached to it. No matter how extraordinary a track record a player might’ve had previously, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to be every bit as successful in the future. Rather, it’s a case that some transfers/contracts seem far easier to justify based on what’s gone before.

In the cases of Salah and Van Dijk, FSG couldn’t wish for two safer bets when it comes to deciding whether it’s worth extending their existing deals, even as the two highest-paid players at the club on £350,000 and £220,000 per week respectively (Capology).

Salah and Van Dijk continue to excel for Liverpool well into their 30s

Just look at the Egyptian’s output this season – 32 goals and 22 assists going into the Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield. Even for someone as consistently prolific as him, that’s his best return since that exceptional first year at Liverpool in 2017/18.

During a period when so many of his attacking teammates have endured alarming goal droughts, the ever-reliable 32-year-old has continued to find the net and atone for that slack from elsewhere. Without him, the Reds’ title hopes may already be in tatters.

Meanwhile, Van Dijk is playing at a level not far off his 2018-2020 peak, when his arrival on Merseyside transformed a porous defence into one of the most impenetrable backlines in Europe.

Liverpool have excellent centre-backs, for sure, but the Dutchman is the glue to hold everyone together in the defensive third, and losing him this summer would leave an enormous leadership void.

The gamble for Hughes and FSG isn’t in whether it’s right to hand lucrative contract extensions to two experienced and proven performers as they approach their mid-30s. It’s in being overly pragmatic and not paying them their true worth, thus seeing them depart and then being required to scout and sign adequate replacements at what’d no doubt be a gargantuan cost.