Liverpool face race against time to prevent £420m summer losses

It is well documented that Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah are out of contract at Liverpool next summer, with negotiations understandably taking a back seat in a season where Jurgen Klopp has announced his exit and FSG have supervised a multitude of background changes.

But with new head coach Arne Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes now walking out the door and getting their feet under the table as pre-season continues, the Reds suddenly find themselves working against the clock when it comes to retaining the services of three of They. star players.

Liverpool are said to be keen to speed up talks with the trio over extending their stay at Anfield, but it remains as it is, with all three continuing to be the subject of transfer speculation.

With Van Dijk and Salah now aged 33 and 32 respectively, it is inevitable that Reds bosses will need to put a long-term succession plan in place for the pair, regardless of whether they extend their Liverpool careers beyond this season. As a result, supporters are aware that the pair will sooner rather than later become the latest modern legends to leave the club.

However, they were also given a wake-up call over Alexander-Arnold’s future, realizing it cannot be taken for granted that the Reds’ vice-captain is staying put. He may be a childhood Liverpool fan who dreams of captaining the club, has already won every major honor at Anfield and, aged 25, still has his prime years ahead of him, but he’s no longer may assume that such allegiances are alone. enough to tie him to the club for life.

The defender has found himself increasingly linked with a move to Real Madrid, with the latest reports this week suggesting he would be tempted by such a prospect. Of course, now, at the start of a three-week break following his Euro 2024 involvement, he is barely packing his locker at the AXA Training Centre. But such speculation highlights the mortality of his own career at Liverpool before contract talks take place.

“I don’t think it would be right to talk about contract situations,” Hughes said at his press unveiling alongside Slot earlier this month when asked about the soon-to-be-off-contract trio. “These are private matters between the club and the players.

“The only concern that I have, that Arne has, about those situations and everyone else in the team is that there is a total commitment from the players to the cause next season – and we absolutely believe that is the case.”

Liverpool will have their commitment, of course, as they have done repeatedly over the years when other stars have entered the final year of their own contracts. But it does open up the possibility of even more high-profile Bosman exits next summer, with the Reds historically resisting cashing in on such players and instead letting them see out offers.

Their argument was that it would cost more to sell such players at a cut price and then bring in a replacement of at least equal quality and impact, preferring to turn to the tried and trusted for a final year before turning to transfer market. . While there is logic to such a position, it is also questionable from a business point of view when you turn your nose up at the opportunity to cash in, knowing full well that those players will leave without a transfer fee, needing replacements still present.

“I have no problem with a player leaving. The only problem I had for the club was that I wanted to get some money,” Jurgen Klopp once said of Emre Can following his decision to join Juventus on a free transfer in 2018. “‘Sign a new contract and then we will sell. you!’ But that wasn’t really realistic.”

A £10.5m signing from Bayer Leverkusen four years earlier, the Reds brought in the then 20-year-old German as their FSG signing – a talented youngster with plenty of potential bought for a “bargain” fee.

However, Liverpool would never get to take advantage of any resale value when it came to the midfielder. Although they managed to pocket £142m for Philippe Coutinho a few months earlier, having spent just £8.5m when they signed the 20-year-old Brazilian from Inter Milan in January 2013, they would lose Can for nothing as he left in a Bosman transfer at the end of his contract.

As Klopp said, agreeing new terms just for the sake of a transfer fee was “not really realistic”. The only problem is that throughout the Reds’ reign, having previously funded moves for Van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho with the funds raised from the sale of Coutinho, a plethora of free transfer exits have left the Reds unable to replicate the same reinvestment level. . When the club was in a position to sell for a transfer fee, it was not a decision they wanted to make.

Under the German’s watch alone Mario Balotelli, Jose Enrique, Lazar Markovic, Can, Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana, Gini Wijnaldum, Divock Origi, Loris Karius, Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara have left the club on free transfers after moving to Anfield. While you can’t argue with the departure of most of these players, Liverpool spent a combined £300.75m on their signings and then pocketed nothing when they left.

As things stand, that total of disappearing millions will rise to £419.65m if both Van Dijk and Salah leave on free transfers next summer. And while Alexander-Arnold cost the club nothing as an Academy graduate, it would be rather short-sighted if their player who should command the highest market value actually left for nothing.

At least when it comes to Firmino and Wijnaldum, the Reds, despite winning every major honour, have milked every last drop of their talent throughout their Anfield careers. They could say the same about an aging Van Dijk and Salah when the time comes, with their contributions outweighing any possible transfer fee received.

But if Alexander-Arnold leaves at the end of his contract, when he clearly still has so much to offer, major questions would be asked of Liverpool and how they allowed themselves to stumble into such a situation in the first place .

The priority position should be to retain his services. If it fails, sell it for as much as possible. But now in the final year of his contract, free to negotiate pre-contract agreements with overseas clubs from January, the Reds are already unable to operate from a position of strength.

While, should that unthinkable Alexander-Arnold exit happen, they already possess an ideal replacement in Conor Bradley, the lack of a transfer fee could prove to be a hindrance when it comes to having to finance then the moves for both Van Dijk’s and Van Dijk’s successors. Salah. It’s all about the side effects and what it means for the strength of the team going forward.

Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, with all three still perfectly plausible to sign extensions and continue to perform at the highest level for Liverpool. But continuing to lose player after player at the end of contracts is simply not manageable in the long term.

If the Reds continue to operate, making such transfer losses, then the club are banking on success on the pitch to maintain their levels, with more pressure on FSG to fund continued recruitment themselves.

Having repeatedly lost big signings on a free transfer after years of service over the past six years, Liverpool have been able to justify it to a certain extent. So it’s somewhat ironic that it would be a Bosman exit of a player who cost him no transfer fee in Alexander-Arnold that would create the biggest outcry of all and put more attention on such a transfer model than ever before.