Liverpool icon tips two stars to leave as contract extension talks intensify
Former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness has offered his view on the incoming contract extension talks with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
All three players are out of contract at Anfield at the end of the 2024/25 season with fans growing nervous over who will stay and who could move on.
The club are open to renewal offers for the key trio, but they are also pragmatic over the finances involved in three major contracts, and that impact the negotiations.
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Veterans Salah and Van Dijk are both rumoured to be considering two-year offers, with 25-year-old Alexander-Arnold offered a longer deal, amid interest from Real Madrid.
All three are eligible to negotiate with non-Premier League clubs from the start of January, but free transfers cannot be completed until the summer, unless Liverpool agree to contract cancellations.
Souness indicated it's very unlikely Liverpool will sell any of them in the January window but admitted keeping all three could be a near impossible task for Arne Slot.
"I can assure you Liverpool will have been talking to their representatives, and will know what those guys are going to do", as per an interview with the Daily Mail.
"Trent seems to have a relationship with Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid. Would it surprise me if he ends up going there? No.
"Would it surprise me if Virgil stayed? No. He's the one of the three I think is most likely to remain, because at this moment, where is he going to go to get more money, and a bigger football club?
"Would it surprise me if Salah stayed? Slightly. Because I think there would be huge appeal to him, as an Egyptian and a Muslim, in earning astronomical money for the next three or four years in Saudi Arabia.
"This is going to be a real test for the team and for Slot."
Liverpool headed into the October international break on top of the Premier League table, with a one-point edge on Manchester City and Arsenal, ahead of their EPL return at home to Chelsea on October 20.
