As the weeks continue to tick by, Liverpool fans have a right to feel concerned over three enormous contract situations.
The Reds have had a brilliant start to the season on the pitch under Arne Slot, but there continues to be a shadow looming over proceedings.
As things stand, all three of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave the club on free transfers at the end of this season.
With the trio clearly still key parts of the Liverpool squad under Slot, it is a bizarre situation for the Reds to find themselves in.
So far, there has been nothing positive to report about the three Liverpool stars and their individual situations. Things seem to be slowly ticking towards a disappointing conclusion.
However, journalist David Lynch has suggested that a little update this week could have provided a clear chink of light for supporters.
Liverpool receive ‘massively encouraging’ update
Liverpool fans will be hoping that the current international break can give the Liverpool owners a chance to get around the table with representatives of all three of these players.
Without much else going on at Anfield over the course of the next week or so, maybe the ground is being laid for a breakthrough to be had. According to Lynch, that certainly seems possible.
Reacting to an article from The Times over the weekend which claimed that an ‘impasse’ had been reached with Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold, the journalist told Anfield Agenda that this was a far more positive update than was being made out.
“I think it was perceived negatively that the word impasse was used, but I still think there’s a positive to be taken there,” says Lynch.
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“We know probably four, five weeks ago that talks hadn’t even started particularly with Salah and Van Dijk. That had moved nowhere.
“Now we’re at somewhere where we’re saying, it’s at an impasse, but that back and forth negotiation is going on.
“I think it’s massively encouraging and suggests that movements are being made towards keeping them.”
Liverpool moving in the right direction?
While it is clearly better news that Liverpool are at least talking with each of the players over an extension, we’d argue that this is not necessarily all that positive a sign.
Rather, we’d heartily question why Liverpool were not speaking with three star men about extending their contracts at the club already.
The Reds have known that this issue would rear its head for such a long time now. There is little excuse for talks to have only begun over the past handful of weeks.
Obviously, some conversations are better than no conversations, but it does all feel a bit to be a case of ‘too little too late’ from Liverpool.
Hopefully more of a breakthrough is made over the coming weeks and supporters can celebrate some tangible success in this ongoing story.
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