Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has admitted that he is concerned by the situation surrounding three key Liverpool players not agreeing new deals.
It is common knowledge that Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are all yet to sign new contacts at Anfield, despite all being in the final year of their current deals.
Considering they are three of the most talented and important players at the club, there is big concern about whether they will all stay on beyond this season.
Speaking to Football Insider, Robinson admitted that he finds it worrying from a Reds perspective, especially when other players appear to be making progress regarding their respective futures:
“I don’t think Konate has been put in front of the others. He’s shown his importance to the team so far this season, but I don’t think this deal has been prioritised ahead of anybody else.
“I think the question will have been put to Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold. The thing that worries me from a Liverpool point of view is that they very rarely let players run into the last year of their deal – at least in recent history.
“It’s very, very strange that they’ve got into this situation with these players. You wonder why you’re not hearing that talks are underway when we are hearing about the other players like they are with Konate. The other three, you wonder whether those conversations are even taking place. You’d expect that they have, but maybe they haven’t gone quite as well as Konate’s.”
Our thoughts on Robinson’s comments…
In truth, Robinson is echoing the thoughts of so many Liverpool supporters, who will be getting increasingly worried about the situation as each month passes.
There is still definite hope that Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Salah will all sign extensions eventually, but given FSG’s preference for not wanting to hand players in their 30s new contracts, it is far from a given with two of them.
As for Alexander-Arnold, Real Madrid continue to be linked with a move for him, especially following Dani Carvajal’s ACL injury, but the hope is that he sees his long-term future at his boyhood club.
Losing any of the trio would feel like a significant blow, and the longer this all goes on, the more it threatens to act as a distraction to their Premier League and Champions League hopes this season.
