The ECHO's Liverpool writers have their say on what should happen next with Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker
Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker after Liverpool vs Villarreal in the Champions League.
Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker after Liverpool vs Villarreal in the Champions League.(Image: Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
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They are the two players whose Anfield arrivals have come to be viewed as the catalyst for greatness at Liverpool.
Signed in January and July of 2018 for respective fees of £75m and £65m, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker were instrumental in turning Jurgen Klopp's emerging side from the pretenders to contenders.
And both went on to become totems for a team that could legitimately lay claim to being champions of England, Europe and the world, having won the Champions League, Club World Cup and Premier League during a glittering, trophy-laden period between 2019 and 2020.
By 2025, they were legendary figures who were hugely influential in winning a second Premier League title in five years and a world without both feels unthinkable at Anfield, some eight years after their transfers.
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Speaking after the game against Crystal Palace on Sunday, both intimated they are hoping to extend their terms at Anfield. Alisson said: "You know, that depends on a lot of aspects and different situations. But my will is to stay. I’m happy here, my family is happy here."
Van Dijk, speaking moments after his long-time colleague, added: "Let’s see what the season brings. I’ve had an amazing time already so far. If that will be extended, that’s the case."
Whatever happens next, their Anfield legacies are safe and secure. But with both players now well inside the final year of their Liverpool contracts, what actually should happen? The ECHO's Liverpool writers have their say.
Paul Gorst
This is not quite the couple of no-brainers it appears on the surface at Liverpool and while fans will be desperate to see both stay, sporting director Julian Ward has several factors to weigh up.
Alisson is one of the highest earners at the club and Van Dijk, owing to a new deal signed in April 2025, is almost certainly the most well-paid player at the club.
That is a strain on a wage bill that has taken on big salaries in the last two summers for players such as Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola and neither player is getting any younger, as the old cliche goes.
Van Dijk turns 36 in July and Alisson will be 35 in early October, so it's a balancing act to weigh up when the drop-off may come for both.
Mohamed Salah, for example, didn't look like he was a busted flush when he fired in 29 goals and 18 assists to help the Reds win the Premier League in 2024/25.
However, by the end of last year, the Egyptian's powers had started to wane considerably, regardless of how much blame you aportion to Arne Slot and the fallout between the pair. The decline was sharp.
Could the same happen with Van Dijk and Alisson? It's a fair question but goalkeepers and centre-backs have at least historically tended to play on longer than explosive wingers who are tasked with scoring the bulk of a team's goals.
Van Dijk has played every minute in the Premier League so far this season and hasn't put a foot wrong, aside from a slight wobble in a Champions League victory over Villarreal.
Alisson has been less sure-footed but his excellent performance against Palace was a timely reminder of his own qualities in goal.
If Liverpool can kick the can down the road by 12 months then both should be kept around to continue ushering in what is a new era at Anfield under Andoni Iraola.
Ian Doyle
Nothing lasts forever. And knowing when to knock a career on the head is an issue with which even the very greatest struggle to grapple.
Witness the collective shrug last week at the news Cristiano Ronaldo was calling time on his international career with Portugal at the age of 41.
Anyone who has witnessed the decline of the forward in recent years will know that decision was a good few years overdue.
And now Liverpool find themselves in a similar position with Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk.
While understandably neither is perhaps at the peak of their powers, both are not even close to Ronaldo's situation of just doing the bare minimum in search of maximum reward.
That said, nobody could have envisaged the dramatic manner in which Mohamed Salah's powers faded last term.
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool appears emotional as he applauds the fans following his final appearance for the club during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Brentford
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool appears emotional as he applauds the fans following his final appearance for the club during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Brentford in May(Image: Getty)
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But Van Dijk and Alisson aren't reliant on the explosive pace that is required of forwards such as Salah and Ronaldo. And both play in a position in which players have long been renowned for still operating at the top level in their late 30s.
Ultimately, it's going to be a question of money. Van Dijk and Alisson are free agents next summer and it seems unlikely they will be able to command as lucrative contracts this time around, certainly not in terms of length.
However, this Liverpool squad needs leaders, and an ideal situation would be if the duo penned 12-month deals in the knowledge they were very much now at the stage where they can start the process of handing over the baton to their respective successors - whoever they may end up being.
Theo Squires
Here we are again. It feels like only yesterday when we were last debating whether Liverpool should offer Virgil van Dijk a new contract, with Mohamed Salah his accomplice on that occasion when seeing out his previous deal.
Both players signed extensions, establishing themselves further as the two best-paid players at the club. But given how Salah’s final season at Anfield panned out before mutually terminating his deal at the halfway point, Liverpool should be rightly wary when it comes to offering out lucrative new deals this time around.
The long-serving Alisson Becker is the player whose future is the subject of uncertainty alongside Van Dijk now. Both players will be free to discuss pre-contract agreements with overseas clubs in less than eight weeks.
They both remain first-choice under Andoni Iraola, but it is clear that they are perhaps no longer capable of the absolute prime levels that saw them win everything under Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola with captain Virgil van Dijk after the UEFA Champions League match against Villarreal CF at Anfield on October 20 2026
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola with captain Virgil van Dijk after the UEFA Champions League match against Villarreal CF at Anfield on October 20 2026(Image: Richard Martin-Roberts - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Are they still better than the majority elsewhere? Of course. Given how Liverpool failed to sign a natural successor to Salah and have struggled when it comes to replacing the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and even Fabinho, they need to tread carefully with their succession plan.
The Reds have already looked to the future when it comes to life beyond the pair, by signing the likes of Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, Lucca Brughmans and Armin Pecsi.
Jacquet has shone in the formative months of his Anfield career, but that does not mean it is time for Van Dijk and Alisson to fully pass on the baton just yet.
As long as they keep delivering, there is room for them at Anfield. Crucially, they both want to stay put and it goes without saying what they offer to the club.
Transition into life beyond them needs to be gradual. But if they are to pen new terms, the finances need to be right also and befitting of what they are offering on the pitch.
Liverpool cannot get stuck in the past, but they don’t need to race into the future before it’s the right time either.