Arne Slot has praised the trio of players who are out of contract at the end of the season for their focus despite the speculation surrounding their futures and said that talks are continuing. Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold can speak to overseas clubs from 1 January and while the Liverpool head coach would not be drawn into how those talks are going he confirmed the club are still trying to find a solution.
Asked if he expected anything to change before the start of the new year, Slot said: “If we would then it’s probably not the moment to tell you now. In general, I don’t talk about contract situations here. It would be a surprise if I was the one to announce that one of them have extended.
“Keep asking, that’s your job, but you’re probably not going to get an answer from me. It’s clear that from 1 January, maybe for you guys, things change a lot but they are in constant talks with the club and let’s wait and see what happens. As long as they keep performing like this, the head coach is happy.”.
Liverpool have lost only once in the league – against Nottingham Forest at home in mid-September – and travel to West Ham on Sunday. They have one of the top flight’s meanest defences and there was extra praise for Van Dijk after the 3-1 win against Leicester on Boxing Day.
“He is a tremendous player and has been for so many years for Liverpool,” Slot said. “Unfortunately he was out with an injury for almost all of the season [2020-21] and that didn’t help this football club at all. So that probably tells you how much of an impact he’s had here at this club. I can only tell you about my experiences of him and not only is what you see during the games – but he has such a big impact during training sessions as well.
