Alexander-Arnold, Salah or Van Dijk?

[Acheron]

On current form Salah although because of his age it must suckto lose Alexander Arnold. All in all it's really a bad situation to have all 3 them on their last year and none of them would be easy to replace.

 

[TheReligion]

Because players have certain demands, especially all-time greats who have done a lot for their club already. But if you look at it from the club's perspective, the inevitable decline is coming for both van Dijk and Salah.

What if you cave in and you give both players a multi-year contract with a salary bump as well, and then they both become washed up at the same time, maybe as early as into next season? You'll have two players in their 30s with astronomical wages, not contributing nearly enough, if that happens.

Similar to how we had Ronaldo and De Gea on 515k and 375k per week respectively, or how we currently employ Casemiro for 350k per week. I could include Varane at 340k too if I was being harsh. I think Liverpool will want to avoid a scenario like this, especially when they aren't as rich as United.

Salah is already on £350k per week

 

[Powderfinger]

Because players have certain demands, especially all-time greats who have done a lot for their club already. But if you look at it from the club's perspective, the inevitable decline is coming for both van Dijk and Salah.

What if you cave in and you give both players a multi-year contract with a salary bump as well, and then they both become washed up at the same time, maybe as early as into next season? You'll have two players in their 30s with astronomical wages, not contributing nearly enough, if that happens.

Similar to how we had Ronaldo and De Gea on 515k and 375k per week respectively, or how we currently employ Casemiro for 350k per week. I could include Varane at 340k too if I was being harsh. I think Liverpool will want to avoid a scenario like this, especially when they aren't as rich as United.

Yup. My suspicion with Salah and Van Dijk is that its less about the wages and more about the years. They probably are asking for 3+ year guaranteed contracts and the club likely would prefer a year-to-year arrangement or a 1+1 type deal.

My suspicion is that Van Dijk is just a matter of negotiation and he will resign eventually, probably on a two year deal at huge wages for a defender. With Salah, Saudia Arabia is offering such astronomical money that it likely just comes down to his preference of whether to try to play top level for a more years or just cash in now and ensure the biggest payout possible. Ronaldo is near the end and Saudi seemingly would like Salah to be the face of their league for a while and is offering similar money in the 200m per year range. So it doesn't really matter what Liverpool offers in a sense, you can't compete with that if the issue comes down to money for him.

 

[B20]

He's no worse than Salah.

Both of them disappear for long stretches of the game and suddenly pop up with an incredible moment. But Salah obviously gets the headlines because he's puts the finishing touches on the move, and Trent gets pelters because a mistake from him means a goal scoring chance for the opposition.

Trent seems to get quite a bit of disrespect in these discussions. Probably also why he doesn't have a problem leaving. He senses that he's not loved anywhere near these two despite being a local lad who's won everything there is to win with the club.

A few years ago, he'd absolutely dominate games. If he were playing at the level I know he can, he'd be an easy choice.

Salah and VVD are. With TAA it's a bit more erratic.

He's still the best right back I've seen in a red shirt and imo the best of the pl era.

The other two have those claims for their position locked in handily as well though.

I think they are more likely to yield a title or two more over the next two years than TAA is over the next five.

 

[HappyCamper]

Salah, VvD and Trent for me. With Salah as the clear priority.

With Klopp as the manager I would have reversed the order and gone all in on keeping Trent, with Salah as the least important player.

 

[duffer]

Trent is a local guy who came through the ranks where Salah and VVD have both played for multiple clubs. Sadly the loyal players get kinda shafted when it comes to wages.

 

[Rojofiam]

Last year for isntance they didn't have him for a long stretch and the team was playing really great, so he can be "replaced", yet not with another Trent.

Trent sometimes can be a double edge sword, when he is on his more Brunesque days trying the ultimate hollywood ball too much, when he tends to drift without a more clever pattern (and sometimes this neglects some defesive task asigned), he can be disruptive not on the best way (as he can be of course in the good side of the coin).

Liverpool BTW can try to seek for someone else mostly purely focus in the offensive/control department (with some dribbling/passing and more pause in him, it's a pitty for them that they could never have Alcantara filling that role due to his injuries) to add an extra quote of creativity these days with Macca coming from so deep with many defensive tasks involved and Slobo/Curtis/Trent/Diaz, etc also being players prone to the momentum, to the flashy attempt than those combine with a more methodic approach, that anyway Arne demands from them, they rarely loose their shape thse days like with Jurgen.
Arne has made them quite a more pragmatic block and Trent has been a lot less expose if he tries something fancy and that's great to relief him from an unnecessary burden and helps him to show his best side more often, they are a ver compact team, with many polivalent fellas.

I think the risk-taking part of his game is actually one of his tasks on the pitch. Much like Bruno and KDB for example, but from the right-back position. He can be a chance creation machine similar to some of the best number 10s in world football. Probably better than a lot of them, to be honest. This is one of the biggest things that make him so valuable and unique.

I think Slot has brought in way more control and "pausa" into this Liverpool side, compared to Klopp, who was way more direct, and it's working very well so far, so I don't see the need to put Trent on a leash as well.

 

[B20]

Trent has already been leashed insofar as his heatmap shows he doesn't go as quite as much forward and not nearly as much central.

I like him in this role though. His forward forays are far more geared towards using the spaces vacated when the opposition focus on Salah. We were never good at exploiting that under Klopp, so he finds himself in good positions more often these days.

I'd never blame him for being caught upfield, that's part of his job. But I do mind him being so easy to go past in duels. That's something he's improved on a lot this season.

I am still missing the at-will sumptuous passing though. He pulls it out on occasion, but it's not as good as we know it can be. Currently he is 'merely' a really good top team player. Not the defining world class player he has the ability to be.