Liverpool is planning to make major changes to its team structure following the sudden announcement of Jurgen Klopp’s retirement.
Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara are among the players whose contracts expire at the end of this season, while the 2025 issue has been raised for Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who are the mainstays of the team.
With their contracts expiring in June of the same year, the focus is on whether they will remain at Anfield after the German commander’s centripetal force is gone.
As for Van Dijk, who will be named captain this season, many in the media have widely reported his departure due to the ambiguity of his departure.
However, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher pointed out that by 2025, when Van Dijk and Salah’s contracts expire, they will be nearing the end of their careers, and argued that it is 25-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold who should worry most.
“Virgil van Dijk is not the biggest worry and neither is Mo Salah. It’s Trent Alexander-Arnold,”
“Those three players have 18 months to go. In 18 months Salah and Van Dijk will be 34 or 35. So this thing about we could lose Van Dijk, well it might actually be the right decision in 18 months.”
“Trent Alexander-Arnold is the one you have almost got to build this team around for a new manager. I think Van Dijk and Salah in 12 months’ time, the club will probably look at that and go you have six months to go, how are you feeling as a player. You would want to keep them if they are playing as they are right now, but 18 months is a long time in football.”
The Overlap
Alexander-Arnold was born in Liverpool and grew straight into a world-class player at his hometown club.He is a regular member of the England national team and has recently shown his ability as a midfielder.
He has added new possibilities to his game and has become more dependable as a player.
It is hard to imagine him leaving Anfield and shining at another club. Still, there are no absolutes in a player’s career, as Steven Gerrard, who was also an iconic figure in the past, came close to moving on.