Journalist David Ornstein has relayed the latest on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s contract extension at Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold had been in terrific form recently, before picking up an injury that’s set to rule him out for the next few weeks. The 25-year-old’s excellent performances have underlined just how important he is to Liverpool.
But amid all of the praise for Trent, there is a slight worry in the back of Reds’ supporters minds. His current contract is now due to end in 18 months time. There’s been rumblings of a new one for some time, but nothing concrete has emerged.
Now, taking part in a fan Q&A for The Athletic, Ornstein has weighed in one what he knows about the situation – as well as those of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
“I don’t think there was any movement on this before the end of 2023 and to my knowledge the plan was always to address it in the new year,” reports the journalist. “We’re there now so I would imagine some conversations will get going in due course. Even though January is expected to be a fairly quiet transfer window at Anfield, it’s not the easiest time to start transfer talks and in the case of Salah, he is busy focusing on AFCON.
“All three players are huge for Liverpool and that makes the situation massively important. It isn’t ideal for them to be approaching their final year – but Liverpool have managed contract situations really well in recent years and I don’t think there’s anything to suggest they won’t again here… albeit the football hierarchy has changed a little with the departures of Edwards/Ward and arrival of [Jorg] Schmadtke.”
Liverpool relaxed on key trio
While it’s good to hear that Liverpool are still planning to move ahead with these talks, we’d like to see progression soon.
Alexander-Arnold in particular is a worry because he’s perhaps the most attractive in the transfer market. There were recently claims that other top sides were keeping an eye on how Liverpool handled things with Trent, in the hope of them making a mess of things.
It isn’t difficult to see a team like Real Madrid, for example, being keen to partner the Scouser up with his friend and England teammate Jude Bellingham. Liverpool must head that off as soon as possible.
The other one concern about Alexander-Arnold is that he clearly wants to play in midfield. With his contract running down, he’s perhaps now in a position to make some demands about what he requires to sign on. One of those could be a guarantee of playing in the centre of the pitch.
He’s so far been doing that on and off for Liverpool and mainly in the latter part of games. But with Jurgen Klopp showing a slight reluctance for a permanent change of position, maybe that could become an issue at some point. To avoid that, we need to get this wrapped up ASAP.
As for Salah, Ornstein suggests that his extension could be the trickiest to pull off for the Reds. However, the journalist did also give some potentially good news on that front.
“Naturally, given what happened last summer with Saudi, Salah feels like the most uncertain/unpredictable [to sign a new contract],” he said. “But as I’ve said on here before, some have suggested to me that Salah still has the appetite to continue competing at the top level of European football with Liverpool, so a departure is not certain at all. Crucial times ahead.”
All three of Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk are so vital to Liverpool’s short, medium and long-term success. We need to get all three tied down as a priority. Then we can breathe much easier.
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