- Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool contracts expire this summer
There is a point when Liverpool have to look at what’s best for Liverpool rather than their players, no matter what they’ve achieved in the past.
Virgil van Dijk will be 34 when next season begins and Mohamed Salah 33. Their contracts run out this summer and whilst both are currently on top of their game, the club need to hold a longer-term view.
There is a balance between the likelihood of van Dijk and Salah maintaining present standards and the reality they might not.
You want some commercial balance in the conversation. If the only discussion is ‘how much do you want?’ followed by ‘OK, we’ll just give it to you’, that’s not negotiation.
Regarding van Dijk, I am not entirely sure I would be signing a central defender his age on a four-year contract. I would slant it to give him two guaranteed years with options attached based on attainment.
Arne Slot is three games into his Liverpool tenure but could be without the trio next season
Everything comes to an end and I wouldn’t want to offer any 34-year-old a fresh four years at an elite Premier League club.
I’d try and do a performance-related contract without insulting the player. If I like his form right now but had a slight concern over the future, you have to make the third year an option.
But you would need a form of wording so he doesn’t feel the club can be Machiavellian and sideline him later to stop him triggering an extension.
The players in this day and age are not going to like the suggestion they are going to have to perform to get paid. But the club has to protect itself in case form deteriorates in their mid-thirties.
It is difficult. Despite my slightly harsh and perhaps unwise observations about Salah not being world-class, he’s looked remarkable this season in terms of attitude.
The third player whose deal is ending, Trent Alexander-Arnold, is a different situation because of his age and resale value.
Liverpool’s first task is to find what is motivating each player. If it’s money with Salah you are competing against economics you can’t win.
Liverpool are not going to pay him the £600,000-a-week or whatever else he would get in Saudi.
Van Dijk (right) will be 34 when next season begins and Salah (left) will be 33. Whilst both are currently on top of their game, the club need to hold a longer-term view
Alexander-Arnold’s contract situation is different because of his age and resale value
They must value Van Dijk and Salah otherwise they would have tried to sell them. But maybe not to the same extent the players value themselves! There comes the balance.
There should be enough objective enough thinking in the room to square the circle.
If Salah is still motivated by competitive football, Liverpool can fight to keep him. If he’s only thinking about how much money he should be paid, Liverpool are going to lose.
