Premier League pundit Ian Wright believes Liverpool will be able to tie down two of the three key players who are currently inside the final year of their contracts at Anfield amid uncertainty over Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
After praising Salah and Van Dijk’s performances this season, Wright moved on to discuss the latest on their contract situations with both players — and Alexander-Arnold — inside the final few months of their Liverpool deals.
“I think so,” Wright said on The Kelly and Wrighty Show when asked if the duo playing for their Liverpool futures could help the Reds win the Premier League title this season. “Not so much with Alexander-Arnold.
“Trent, the fact is Real Madrid are linked with him and he’s [already] won the league and the Champions League with Liverpool. It’s the kind of situation where we saw Michael Owen and Steve McManaman do it.
“Trent’s in a different position [to Steven Gerrard] because he has won things. He’s a hometown boy but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If someone was to ask me, I would say Trent probably leaves but Mo and Van Dijk stay.
“I think Mo wants to continue breaking records and I’m not sure Virgil would want to leave when he has a manager giving him more control. It doesn’t make sense that someone could prise him away.”
Liverpool.com says: These conversations are only going to get more commonplace the longer time goes by without positive news. Liverpool can’t afford to lose any of the trio for nothing but if it gets to January — now little more than a month away — and they can freely negotiate with clubs abroad, that will be a concern.
What Liverpool needs to avoid is a situation where nothing is resolved during a potential run-in at the end of the season. If we don’t know that Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold are all staying by March and Liverpool still leads the way in the Premier League table, that would be a distraction that everyone should be desperate to avoid at a crucial juncture.
