John Barnes offers Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk Liverpool theory
The Liverpool legend had his say on the contracts of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk which all expire in the summer of 2025
John Barnes has claimed it's "unthinkable" that Liverpool haven't held talks with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk over new contracts.
The club's trio are all out of contract in the summer of 2025 yet new deals have yet to be agreed, much to the concern of Reds supporters.
Michael Edwards, the chief executive of football at Liverpool, and Richard Hughes, the club's sporting director, came under huge scrutiny this summer from a large portion of fans for failing to resolve the trio's future as well as bringing in just one new signing in the form of Federico Chiesa.
Barnes, who spent 10 years of his career at Anfield, claimed there's no doubt the club have a plan in place, even if that means allowing one of the three players leaving on a free transfer.
READ MORE: Kylian Mbappe's PSG saga turns ugly over £46million unpaid fee and court rulingREAD MORE: Daniel Levy told there’s ‘nothing stopping’ Harry Kane from making Tottenham returnSpeaking exclusively to Ladbrokes, the official betting partner of Liverpool, the 60-year-old said: "It'd be virtually unthinkable for there have been no conversations at all between club and players. I just cannot see it. So they'll have a handle on it. They're not stupid.
"I'm sure they've got it under control. There might be an announcement in the next month, let's say, that one of them has signed a new four-year deal and everybody was thinking, why were we all worried?
"There might be one of them being lined up to be sold on or to go out as a free, but whatever it is, they will have their plans in place. This has not just crept up on them in the last week at Liverpool.
"They will have plans in place and all it is is for the people like me to discuss what ought to happen, whether they should sign these players on, whether they should sell them and all the rest of it."
Barnes acknowledged that while Liverpool may find it difficult to reject a hefty bid from the Saudi Pro League for Salah, there's just as much of a chance of the Egyptian inking a deal for a new multi-year contract.
A lot of that depends on who's interested. For example with Mohamed Salah it's going to be virtually impossible to replace him. But if someone from Saudi are going to offer a hundred million plus, then that might be a decision that Liverpool can’t turn down.
"On the flip side, Salah might have be in the last rungs of negotiation and they might be just adding one or two final touches to the contract and he's going to sign a new four-year contract. There will have been conversations with all three players for a period of time now. Absolutely."
The club suffered their first defeat of the Arne Slot era on Saturday (September 14) when losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at Anfield. It was Forest's first win at the stadium since 1969.
The new Liverpool home shirt for the 2024/2025 season features a Chrome Yellow pattern design sees a modernised take on the legendary 84 Home Shirt, a season which saw the Reds become European Champions for the 4th time in Rome and the first English Club to win a Treble of major honours. You can pre-order it now for Thursday, May 16.
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