Peter Moore discussed how Liverpool would have handled the contract situations of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Trent Alexander-Arnold likely told Arne Slot that he would be leaving Liverpool at the start of the 2024-25 season, according to former chief executive Peter Moore.
The debate over Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk’s respective futures raged for much of the season. Salah and van Dijk opted to pen two-year deals. And Moore, who served as CEO between 2017-2020, insisted that the Reds’ policy to ensure there ‘no drama’ paid dividends.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I've been gone a few years but the issue is Trent, Mo and Virgil coming to the end and the PR issues. You have the agents yapping in the background trying to put pressure on the club. All of that, Liverpool handled very well. Ramy Abbas is very seasoned now, Mo is his No.1 client, how do we announce things that don't put Trent under pressure for announcement and now does Virgil, as the captain, announce things? All of those have to go together.
“It was pretty clear he said to Arne at the start of the season that I'm out of here but I'm going to give you everything now because he's such a good kid. What do I know, but Arne probably said I need you to bring Conor [Bradley] along because this kid is going to be 30-35 games a season in your position. Virgil and Mo, I think, knew what was going on so were nonplussed about the drama. This is where social media kicks in.
“Liverpool has always been this way and we arrogantly call it the 'Liverpool way' where we're just going to get business done, there's not going to be a lot of drama and, when I was there, there was a conversation with agents that if you're going to start doing this to the media to try to manipulate the situation or change the narrative to advantage your client, we're not going to give in.”
Salah did make the surprise decision speak out about his future in the mixed zone after a 3-2 win at Southampton in November. On that incident, Moore added: “I know his agent, I know Mo. It was with the mixed media, which was weird. I think Ramy, his agent, probably said go and have a word, kick things along but all's well that ends well.”
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