A new report from respected journalist David Ornstein has revealed that Liverpool have ‘made a contract offer’ to captain Virgil van Dijk.
Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are among the 20 best footballers out of contract in 2025 and it remains to be seen whether they will commit their futures to Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold is being pursued by Real Madrid as they are in the market for a right-back to replace Spain international Dani Carvajal.
The experienced right-back has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2024/25 season with a knee injury, but a report earlier this week revealed Real Madrid do not intend to move for Alexander-Arnold in January.
As for Van Dijk and Salah, the Liverpool pair do not perhaps have as many options as Alexander-Arnold, but they are on the radar of Saudi Pro League clubs.
Much has been said about their respective futures of late and The Athletic’s Ornstein provided a concrete update on Wednesday afternoon.
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He confirms ‘Liverpool have made a contract offer to Van Dijk’ and while there has been ‘no breakthrough yet on deal value or length, talks are continuing’.
Regarding Salah, Ornstein claims the Egypt international is ‘yet to receive any proposals to prolong his Anfield career’, but the ‘anticipation is that this will change soon’.
‘Their situations have become a subject of intense discussion and Salah, 32, recently said he has not yet received any proposals to prolong his Anfield career. That remained accurate as of Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester City, however, the anticipation is it will change soon.
‘By contrast, talks with Van Dijk have seen Liverpool table an opening bid to keep the 33-year-old beyond June — though it fell short of his expectations and so far there has been no breakthrough on the value or length of an extension.’
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‘The dialogue has taken place for some time and continues, amid all three men playing a central role in the side’s fine start to the season under head coach Arne Slot.
‘Conversations are also ongoing between Liverpool and Alexander-Arnold, whose age (26) and status as an academy graduate present differences to the other cases.
‘The right-back has generated well-documented interest from Real Madrid but, similarly to his team-mates, it remains unclear how the matter will conclude.’
While Salah is being linked with the Saudi Pro League, Didi Hamann thinks the winger could “end up at Bayern Munich”.
“If Liverpool don’t offer him a contract, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mohamed Salah end up at Bayern Munich,” Hamann said.
“At the moment, they’ve got wingers who haven’t really set the world alight on the pitch. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to bring him in.
“They won’t be the only club either, he wants to play at the highest level and if that’s not with Liverpool it will be at another huge club.
“Liverpool have always done their business differently to other teams. Mohamed Salah has been their best player for eight years, he still averages 25 goals, but he is 32 now.”