Paul Merson has been talking the futures of Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 04: Paul Merson working for Sky Sports TV during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on September 4, 2022 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Paul Merson believes Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah will also leave Liverpool(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
It's the scenario that no Liverpool supporter wants to see come to fruition. But Paul Merson believes that the red-hot favourites to win the Premier League will lose their three out-of-contract stars in the summer.
Merson's former club Arsenal closed the gap on leaders Liverpool to nine points last night with a 2-1 triumph at home to Fulham. But ahead of this evening's Merseyside derby at Anfield, nothing has changed for Arne Slot's table-topping side.
The Reds know 16 points from the last 27 on offer will see them be crowned champions of England for a record-equalling 20th time and cap a remarkable debut campaign in charge for head coach Slot.
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It is a campaign in which questions have persisted about the futures of captain Virgil van Dijk, vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold and top goalscorer Mohamed Salah.
All three see their current contracts run out on June 30 and, as things stand, they will walk away from the club as free agents come July 1.
It appears increasingly likely that Alexander-Arnold will leave his boyhood team to join Real Madrid. But Van Dijk and Salah have made it clear they would like to remain at Liverpool.
But with less than three months left on their deals, Merson believes they will all go - a situation he believes would be "criminal".
"I've been saying it for the last eight or nine months - I don't see any of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk signing at Liverpool," wrote the Gunners legend in his latest column for Sky Sports.
"Because I just don't know why you wouldn't have signed already. Why would you keep on losing £80,000 a week, every week for the last 18 months?
"I'd be quite shocked if all three stayed from here. Unless Liverpool are prepared to give them £30m, £40m in their bank account.
"If Liverpool want to keep on being successful and go again next year, they've got to keep Van Dijk and Salah, assuming Alexander-Arnold has already gone.
"I think Van Dijk and Salah are the best in the business in their positions. If I could buy anybody, I'd buy them two.
"If you lose Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, you've lost half of the back four. And if you lose Salah, you're losing 30 to 40 goals a season. Good luck finding them anywhere else.
"When you get down to that much talent and they're that good, you should never have less than two years, or two and a half years left on your contract before they're sitting down and saying: 'We want to go again'.
"And the only time their contracts should be running out is when they're 33, 34, when-no one wants them.
"In football terms, it's criminal. It's criminal that you can let three of the top players in the world of football have their contracts run down, and they could leave for absolutely nothing, go anywhere they want."
After 17 days without a game following the Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle United at Wembley, Slot was quizzed on Alexander-Arnold at his press conference on Tuesday.
Reports emerged during the international break that Real Madrid were closing in on a pre-contract agreement with the England international right-back, who is currently sidelined with the injury he sustained in the Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain.
Slot said: "His situation is unfortunately that he is injured. Otherwise people would have spoken that he had one or two brilliant performances for the England team.
“But he is injured and for him that means he is fully focused on his recovery. For us it means we will try to help him to be back as soon as he can.
“And for the rest, for eight months it went a bit up and down with talks about him, Virgil or Mo, but we have never been focused on those talks.
“We have always been focused on what we have to do, and for Virgil and Mo that is trying to win the Merseyside derby and for Trent it is trying to be fit as soon as he can.
“It is a situation that is there for eight or nine months now and I think all these three players have performed so well under these circumstances so it doesn’t affect me at all.”