Prem legend doesn’t think ‘any’ of elite Liverpool trio ‘sign’, with title to trigger bittersweet end

Paul Merson does not think “any” of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk or Mohamed Salah will pen new deals at Liverpool, especially if the Reds win the Premier League.

Liverpool last won the league in 2019/20, but with no fans in stadiums at the back end of the season due to the COVID pandemic. They got within one point of the title in 2021/22, but have since not been particularly near.

In Arne Slot’s first season at the club, they seem to have their best chance, currently sitting six points clear at the top, with a game in hand over the sides below them.

The potential lifting of the trophy will coincide with the expiry of the contracts of superstars Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Salah, provided they don’t pen extensions before then, and Merson believes that will spell the end for them.

“Call me a cynic, I don’t think any of them sign. I don’t, I don’t think any of them sign [a new contract]. I think they wait and see if they win the league, I don’t know where you go if you’re Liverpool,” he said.

“You know, when Liverpool won the league in COVID, it wasn’t the same, you know, you watch them lift the trophy, the Kop wasn’t there, the fans they hadn’t won it for a long time.

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“If they go and win it this time in front of their fans, I just think Salah, Van Dijk, Trent have won the Champions League, they’ve [now] won the Premier League in front of the fans, which will be a lot different, believe me.

“I don’t see them signing, call me a cynic, but this is, we’re talking 18 months now, whatever that may be, because they get a pay rise when they sign, they don’t sign for the same.

“That might be 50 grand a week, 50 grand a week over 18 months is a lot of money, you know, for me, I’m not sure they sign if they win the Premier League.”

A recent report, though, stated that both Van Dijk and Salah have in fact penned new deals, but it has not been revealed by the club so there is no pressure on Alexander-Arnold to make the same decision.

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