Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are reportedly close to signing long-awaited contract extensions with Liverpool despite months and months of conflicting reports.
The Reds may have lost just their second Premier League game of the season on Sunday but with an increasing number of reports from more and more reliable journalists suggesting van Dijk and Salah are set to stay, the Fulham defeat will soon be long-forgotten.
Yesterday, we covered a report from Sky Switzerland which suggested that an agreement in principle exists between Salah and FSG over a new agreement and will hopefully soon be made official.
Now, Fabrizio Romano has added his voice to the cacophony of reports emerging and it’s great news.
Liverpool “maintain their confidence” that Salah and van Dijk will renew their contracts
In an update via his newsletter for GiveMeSport, Fabrizio Romano has shared a bombshell update, stating that Liverpool remain confident that both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will renew their deals and stay at Anfield.
Both players – as well as Trent Alexander-Arnold – are out of contract at the end of the season but now seem set to stay. Trent is still off to Madrid as it stands but Arne Slot will be over the moon to retain Salah and van Dijk.
Romano reports: “Liverpool mantain their confidence that both Salah and Van Dijk will stay and sign new deals. The club absolutely want to get it done ASAP, as Trent is getting closer and closer to Real Madrid.”
While it’s unclear how long the extensions will be for, even keeping them for an additional year while top-notch, long-term replacements are scouted, signed and settled in on Merseyside is a massive boost.
Arne Slot’s first season has highlighted overdependence on van Dijk and Salah
This season, Salah has defied logic with his form. Many detractors like to point out that he’s 32 and may not be at the top for very long.
Yet, the Egyptian winger has 32 goals in all competitions this season, per Transfermarkt. One for every year he’s lived. Add to that his 22 assists and Salah has a combined total of 54 goal contributions this campaign.
Van Dijk has also continued his unbelievable reign of dominance as the best defender on the planet at 33 and with few signs of decline, Liverpool will be over the moon to retain the Dutch skipper.
Yet, whenever either of them underperforms, Liverpool struggle massively.
If Salah doesn’t score or assist, it results in some hugely challenging games.
If van Dijk has an off day, you get results like Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Fulham at the weekend or the Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United.
That said, Slot’s transfer priority should be to make signings that maximise the overall squad performance and aim to eradicate overdependence on Salah and van Dijk by the time they finally say farewell to Anfield and Merseyside.
