Liverpool has seen Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk all their contracts walking and Paul Merson has hammered the Reds because he has created the situation
Paul Merson admits that the “criminal” is that Liverpool has allowed itself in a position where three of their most important names can leave when their contracts expire. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk can all leave Anfield in a matter of months.
The Reds have not been able to coordinate new deals with one of the trio and as the season continued, it has looked more and more as if all three will continue. The age profiles of both Van Dijk and Salah, who are in its thirty, may have been worries, but both men have remained fantastic artists.
If all three rooms, it would leave huge voids in the starting XI – and at a time when Liverpool will want to build, which will be likely, a second Premier League triumph.
Instead, Arne Slot will have to search the market for new recruits with a new commander center half and a productive attacker both on his shopping list. Salah has claimed for months that this will probably be his last year and a switch to Saudi Arabia has been spoken.
Alexander-Arnold is in a discussion with Real Madrid, who has rejected an offer from January for him, but Merson insists that the fault for the Sagas contract is firmly with the Merseyside outfit.
He said to Sky Sports: “I say it for the past eight or nine months – I see none of Trent Alexander -Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk who sign in Liverpool. Because I just don't know why you wouldn't have signed it yet. Why would you continue to lose from £ 80,000 a week, every week for the last 18 months?
“I would be very shocked if they all stayed here. Unless Liverpool was willing to give them £ 30 million, £ 40 million in their bank account. If Liverpool wants to continue to be successful and go again next year, they must keep Van Dijk and Salah assuming that Alexander-Arnold has already disappeared.
“I think Van Dijk and Salah are the best in the company in their positions. If I could buy someone, I would buy them two. If you lose Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, you have lost half of the back four. And if you lose Salah, you lose 30 to 40 goals per season. Good luck to find them somewhere else.”
He added: “In football terms it is criminal. It is criminal that you can drop three of the top players in the world of football, drop their contracts, and they can leave for absolutely nothing, go wherever they want.”
Liverpool had been on track a month ago for a Treble, but defeats in the Champions League and the Carabao Cup have shown a light on their problems. It has also led to talking about their contract rebels with the club that should find huge amounts if they want to replace them.
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