Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp knows better than anybody else that the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, and Trent Alexander-Arnold are not just in Arne Slot's hands. Slot recently witnessed his squad exit the Champions League on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain and suffer defeat against Newcastle United at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final.
Despite the Reds leading the Premier League by 12 points with only nine points remaining, the disapointment of both competitions may have tempered some excitement levels. Another factor which will be playing on the minds of Liverpool fans is the possibility of losing Van Dijk, Salah, and Alexander-Arnold for nothing when their contracts run out in the summer. Klopp endured the loss of premium talent he was eager to keep during his time at the club, despite having a large say on recruitment at Anfield. The German will know that the futures of the aforementioned trio will be decided by the Liverpool board, even if they are not in agreement with Slot.
After the loss at Wembley, Slot used his pre-match press conference to clarify his position on Van Dijk. The Dutchman said: "I don't even know what will happen next year. If anyone says they do know, they are lying to your face.
"I don't know what's happening next season as well, in terms of results. But that's not what you mean. The only thing I know is that I want Virgil to be here next season. All the rest, talks about his contract, that's not what I do over here."
During his tenure, Klopp's influence extended to all aspects including recruitment and player retention, but the ultimate call always rested with the Fenway Sports Group hierarchy. This was evident in the decisions regarding Roberto Firmino and James Milner, two players that were integral to Klopp’s success at Anfield, whose contracts were allowed to expire.
The Times reported that despite Klopp's desire to retain the key duo, the club chose to let their contracts wind down. Milner confirmed this when he told LFCTV: "I think it'd be a shame to stop when you've still got a bit of life in you. Jurgen Klopp's a pretty good manager, so that he wanted me to stay is pleasing."
He added: "The club obviously made their decision on that. It's nice I'm in a position where the manager wanted me to stay, but it got to the point where I got to terms [with it]."
Milner joined Brighton & Hove Albion and Firmino moved to Al-Ahli on free transfers. Additionally, Klopp had to bid farewell to Fabinho and Jordan Henderson who transferred to Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq respectively.
Klopp was keen to retain the seasoned midfield pair, but conceded that the attractive wages in the Saudi Pro League made it impossible for the club to hold onto them. No news has emerged regarding the futures of Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Salah.
The latter two have believed to be of interest to the Saudi Pro League, while Alexander-Arnold is strongly speculated to be on Real Madrid's radar.