The three Liverpool stars all have deals which expire at the end of the season
Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, is expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer
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By DAVID KENT
Published: 13:28 EDT, 2 April 2025 | Updated: 13:28 EDT, 2 April 2025
Paul Merson has hit out at Liverpool for allowing the contracts of Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to expire.
All three players can leave Anfield on free transfers this summer unless they sign last-minute deals.
Alexander-Arnold, who has been at the Merseyside club since joining the youth academy in 2004, is expected to go to Real Madrid. While the futures of Salah — the club's all-time Premier League top scorer — and captain Van Dijk remain uncertain.
The trio have been key to Liverpool's ascent to the top of the Premier League table but Merson now thinks it unlikely that any of them will be in Arne Slot's side come the start of next season.
'I don't see any of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk signing at Liverpool,' the former Arsenal star told 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?
Mo Salah (left) and Virgil van Dijk now both look likely to Liverpool at the end of the season
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson is highly critical of Liverpool for allowing the deals to expire
Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to join European champions Real Madrid on a free transfer
'I'd be quite shocked if all three stayed from here. Unless Liverpool are prepared to give them £30m, £40m in their bank account.'
Merson added that he was amazed that the club had allowed the situation to develop and believes Liverpool will be a much weaker side next year should all three depart — no matter what business they do over the summer.
'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,' he said.
'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.'