Arne Slot confirms his role in Liverpool's contract sagas and explains private talks
Liverpool face the prospect of losing several of their leading players - Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah among them - with Arne Slot is constant discussions with the club's hierarchy
by Samuel Meade · The MirrorArne Slot insists he has an input into Liverpool's contract dealings - but his dialogue is with sporting director Richard Hughes.
The Reds have a number of players whose deals will be expiring in the summer and their Dutch coach arrived knowing that several of his leading lights faced uncertain futures. Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are all free to leave in the summer, as things stand.
Liverpool are working behind the scenes to retain their players and Slot has a role to play in that. His thoughts are largely shared with the club's new sporting director, who arrived in the summer following a reshuffle in their hierarchy.
Hughes joined from Bournemouth and is now tasked with ensuring the best players remain at Anfield. Liverpool boss Slot joked that it be unusual if he wasn't consulted about who the club are looking to retain.
He said: "It would be strange if I had no input. Sometimes being head coach is convenient. Contract situations are talked about by people who need to talk about it. I speak about it with Richard and not in front of you guys with a microphone."
Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold were all part of the team that won the Premier League in 2020 and the Champions League 12 months earlier. The Egyptian claimed in September that he had accepted this was his last year, with no contact from the club coming his way.
Van Dijk meanwhile recently delivered a positive updates on his future as he confessed talks were ongoing. "I can say obviously discussions are ongoing, but I don't know, we will see what happens in the future," said the Dutchman. "My full focus is on Liverpool, wanting to win games that are ahead of me and nothing else.
"What the future will bring I have no idea at the moment. I can only tell you that discussions have been started up and we will see."
Alexander-Arnold is the one that is perhaps more likely to go, despite coming through the club's academy and approaching his peak years. Real Madrid are particularly keen and the Reds star is known to have a good relationship with their talisman Jude Bellingham.
The right-back has also won every honour possible whilst at Anfield and declared his ambition to win the Ballon d'Or - which was a red flag for former player Jamie Carragher.
"You can try and win the Ballon d'Or, but my first thought when I read that was you're not winning the Ballon d'Or as a right-back for Liverpool. Ballon d'Or winners normally play for Real Madrid or Barcelona, that's where the best players in the world go," he told Sky Sports.
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