Neville outlines ‘hell of a problem’ for Liverpool boss Slot as £250m ‘hole’ opens up

Gary Neville insists Liverpool “won’t have the money to replace” Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk if they all leave in the summer.

The Reds are having a great season in the Premier League with Arne Slot’s men currently top of the table and heading for their 20th top-flight title.

Liverpool are currently 12 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal, who still have to travel to Anfield before the end of the season, and it would take a monumental collapse if the Reds were to surrender the title from here.

One distraction for Liverpool this season has been the uncertainty surrounding the future of Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk, with the trio all out of contract at the end of the season.

Widespread reports on Tuesday claimed that Alexander-Arnold is now set to join Real Madrid after agreeing a move ahead of the summer transfer window.

And Neville reckons Liverpool boss Slot could face a tricky summer if all three players leave with it taking around £250m to adequately replace them.

READ: Trent Alexander-Arnold: the backlash to the backlash, plus Man City FFP and Kane > Bowen shock

Neville told The Overlap: “At the end of the season, it will leave Liverpool a huge hole if those three players [Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold] leave on a free.

“They won’t have the money to replace them, and you could argue there is a quarter of a billion pounds in those three. You’re talking about one of the best strikers in Europe, one of the best centre-halves in Europe and one of the best right-backs in Europe.

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“Even as good as Liverpool have been in recruitment, that is a quarter-billion-pound hole. They’ve been good at recruitment so they could replace them, but that is a hell of a thing for Arne Slot to have to deal with.”

Man Utd legend Neville also warned Alexander-Arnold about his chances of securing a starting berth for Real Madrid next season.

Neville added: “I said that I thought he [Trent Alexander-Arnold] had to get more serious about his defending – I’ve said that constantly – or else it will cause him problems,” he said.

“I think it will cause him a problem at Real Madrid because they have Federico Valverde, who is playing right-back currently, and Dani Carvajal when he’s back – he’s going to have some serious competition. They are brilliant players, and he’s going to find it tough there.

“[On whether Valverde and Carvajal are better than Trent] I think Carvajal, from a balance of going forward and back – the problem is that he’s 32 and has had a bad injury – but for me, Carvajal is a better full-back than Trent because of what he gives to the team.

“It’s unbelievable what Valverde is doing for them at the moment, so he’s going to have competition when he goes.”