Just the other night, it was reported on @TheTimes that new contracts were arranged for Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate, even being fully aware that three of Liverpool's best performers, Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold, have less than a year until their contracts run out. This might mean that their sporting board (Fenway Sports Group, and Richard Hughes) are taking their time with sorting out the situation surfacing these players so they don't get manipulated by their agents to make wrong decisions with issuing contract lengths.
Mohamed Salah is the highest paid footballer at the club, earning £350,000-a-week (£18.2m per year) as the figure agreed on during his last contract extension in 2022. Compared with other superstars playing for top clubs in the PL, it's more or less the bare minimum any decent performer should be paid. Bids below £16m [each year] might not even be considered, even with knowing Salah's 32 years old now and isn't getting any younger. Virgil Van Dijk earns £220,000-a-week and Trent Alexander Arnold earns £180,000-a-week, I think they deserve a higher pay, but it's not going to be easy to keep all 3 agents satisfied with the time left to sort it out. Also, the fans shouldn't think that gifting those contract extensions is some kind of ‘appreciation of service to the club’, but should be seen as an indicator of importance to the new-look Liverpool reshaping in the coming years.
Van Dijk is the safest bet for who stays. He's recently been handed the captain's armband and so would be very involved in representing the squad in the board's decision making process. Though, we might want to focus on his value to the team—tactics and squad building wise—but I must say, he was top three performers for Liverpool last season in Klopp's last tenure. He was also among the top performing centre backs in Europe even just recovering from a collateral ligament tear. He commands the backline, contests balls launched in the air and ushers centre forwards away from Liverpool's box like no other, and could still switch play swiftly, and play line breaking passes on the ground very frequently under a more possession based side like Arne Slot's.
Another factor favouring Virgil to continue to wear Liverpool colours for a little while would be that the potential successor to his throne is already at the club, but has only joined the first team last season. Yes, that's right, Jarell Quansah. He committed his future to the club a few days ago, now on a long-term contract, and will need to learn from the veteran to ease his way into the starting XI. A two-year contract might just be enough to win Van Dijk's agents over.
But we're not just talking about some breakout star he's trying to succeed, we're talking about the greatest to ever do it. Liverpool's defensive record with and without the 33 year old is night and day, even considering that man was nearing a 100-game run unbeaten at Anfield. Jarell got big shoes to fill, you'd expect the biggest centre back talent in Europe to continue on Virgil's path, but Liverpool can compromise on cost of lauding such talent and invest in their new Academy graduate. Liverpool were interested in arguably the biggest U20 centre back to emerge from France, Leny Yoro, as The Athletic reports, but Manchester United did all possible to beat even Real Madrid to the 18-year-old's signature. Liverpool might want to do with a centre back with high consistency in technical actions on the ball for Slot's buildup, hence their pursuit for a left footed one. I feel Quansah possess this trait, so it makes it a lot easier for his development and integration considering he's a last-man defender like Van Dijk to work with Konate who's more aggressive, and he's as good in aerial dueling and attacking set-pieces as most of his mates playing in the top level. Defensively, he might not be there yet, but he could really shock all of us in the next 3 years.
Deciding Salah and Trent's fate at the club might be complicated to articulate in mere words, we might need the help of underlying stats to paint a picture of how their value to the team have evolved with change in positional systems and roles. For Virgil, he just needs to keep working hard and leading by example.
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