A soft revamp has already been underway at Anfield in recent years, as demonstrated by the fact that only five of Slot’s inherited players have actually won every major honour with Liverpool
And the jury will be out regarding how much longer each of the quintet will stay put at Anfield.
Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salahare all out of contract next summer and while they are set to stay put this summer, speculation about their futures continues
Andy Robertson is out of contract in 2026, with Liverpool recently being linked with a move for Argentina youth international Julio Soler as a long-term replacement
The Reds previously sanctioned a £45m move to Newcastle United for Joe Gomez back in June as part of a swap deal for Anthony Gordon, only to see it collapse.
With Alexander-Arnold still only 25 years old, new sporting director Richard Hughes will make resolving his future one of his first ports of call now the England international has reported back for pre-season training.
However, it’s a different story for Van Dijk and Salah, and Robertson too to a lesser extent. Aged 33, 32 and 30 respectively, the Reds have already enjoyed the trio’s peak years,
Boasting every winner’s medal going for Liverpool, such players are club legends. But they have seen many of their trusted team-mates move on in recent years after reaching veteran status.
While Dejan Lovren, Xherdan Shaqiri, Sadio Mane, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson moved on for a combined fee of roughly £100m, the majority have departed on Bosman transfers at the end of their contracts.
Since the Reds won the Premier League in 2020, Adam Lallana, Gini Wijnaldum, Divock Origi, James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Matip, Adrian and Thiago Alcantara have all left on free transfers.
in the case of Wijnaldum and Firmino, it became clear that no-one is indispensable. The Dutchman was still very much first-choice in Liverpool’s midfield when the then 30-year-old left for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021
Firmino might no longer have been untouchable in attack, but his importance was still evident before his departure as a 31-year-old last summer.
the Brazilian’s account of how his contract negotiations with the Reds unfolded, having initially had no desire to leave the club, should act as a warning to the likes of Van Dijk and Salah
Firmino
“In August 2022, while still on pre-season, Liverpool told my representatives that they wanted me to stay as well,” he recalled in his autobiography, ‘Si Senor’
“A contract renewal wasn’t something I lost sleep over back then; it seemed like a formality, a matter of time…
“My representatives were talking with the club about the contract renewal and disagreements were starting to arise. The club saw things one way, we saw them another…
“I had eight goals in nine matches. There were less than two months left until the World Cup and Klopp called me for a conversation in his hotel room before a match. ‘We really want to keep you’,
“He insisted that if we just sorted out the salary, we could speed up the renewal process. I agreed with him. It shouldn’t be a problem. I told him I would discuss the matter with my agents and ask them to finalise the deal.
“He reached out, showed interest, and I was happy. There was no way this could go wrong…
‘We returned from Dubai, and then it was time to definitely sort out my contract, which had always been my desire. I made my intentions clear to my agents. I wanted to stay.
‘I didn’t want to hear about offers from other European clubs or other parts of the world. My life was in Liverpool…
“A difference in opinion about my role was emerging. In the view of my representatives, I was a top-tier player in world football and should be given a renewal that reflected that. From the club’s business perspective, Roberto Firmino’s peak had passed.
“My salary was quite high, significant investments had been made in new players and some contract extensions… In the club’s view, the future was secured with Gakpo, Darwin, Luis and Diogo Jota. And, of course, Salah had renewed his contract.
I still thought there was a place for me in this attack… Klopp had told the management he wanted me to stay, but the club’s view was that I would no longer be a protagonist…
Firmino continued:
‘I accepted a shorter contract - one year instead of two. I told the club I would accept a significant salary reduction. That wasn’t an issue. Money didn’t matter.
“But communication was muddled and responses were slow. One week… three weeks… a month. We kept compromising, but it didn’t seem like there was a real willingness on the other side to finalise negotiations
“Things dragged on through January and February. By that point, my agents told me that they were only continuing negotiations with the club out of respect for my desire to stay and the love we had for Liverpool.
“On the field, I wasn’t the figure I had been, my grip on a place ever more precarious… I was ready. I was back, but I wasn’t playing. The boss was avoiding me now. I wanted to demand an explanation for what was happening, but I couldn’t get his attention…
“A concern that didn’t exist before, a possibility I had never truly imagined, was becoming real. Maybe they really didn’t want me. Maybe it really was over.
‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was a match against Wolves, in which I came on as a substitute in the last minute. That was it. Right there, I understood. The penny dropped. I knew now.
“I called my agents. Roger Wittmann and Christian Rapp met with me for a face-to-face talk… Christian and Roger were perfectly transparent about everything that was happening and the club’s view of my future.
“It wasn’t a war. It was just a difference in understanding about what I could offer Liverpool… I couldn’t avoid it any more. It was time to accept. I decided it was time to seek another challenge for myself, another purpose. My time at Liverpool had come to an end…
‘If it was difficult for them to say, well I would say it: ‘I’m not staying. I’ll go.’ If deep in their head they weren’t sure about extending my contract, if they didn’t know what to do, then for the good of everyone I would make the decision to leave.”
Firmino was one of Liverpool’s highest earners, with such a status counting against him when Reds bosses came to negotiate fresh terms with an ageing star
Salah and Van Dijk are Liverpool’s two highest earners and, if they don’t take the decision first, could well find themselves in a similar situation in the future when it comes to negotiating fresh terms.
However, there is also a difference between the long-serving pair and Firmino. They remain two of the first names on the Reds’ teamsheet with their starting status not yet under threat and long-term replacements not yet recruited
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