Liverpool close in on GROUNDBREAKING deal with world's best

Liverpool have made progress on a deal with one of the world's best players. This one could happen soon.

Liverpool have been battling a trio of contract nightmares this season. Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all free to leave at the end of the season, with none of them renewing their contracts beyond this campaign.

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Now, make no mistake - Liverpool want to keep all three. There are just factors that make negotiating difficult.

Van Dijk and Salah both face the same issue. They're now well into their 30s and Liverpool don't like giving big, long contracts to players past their peak.

After all, a full-on decline could happen at any moment. They don't want that to happen this summer and leave the club spending a fortune on players who are no longer good enough.

Alexander-Arnold is a different situation. He appears set on a move to Real Madrid and Liverpool are struggling to convince him otherwise.

The Reds' contract offer is reportedly more than the one from Madrid - it just needs to be a lot higher in order to convince him to stay.

That's the overall situation, then, and it's one that has simmered all season. Now it's really starting to heat up.

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Van Dijk says progress has been made

“There is progress, yeah,” Van Dijk told reporters after Liverpool's 3-2 defeat at Fulham. “I don’t know [how much progress], we’ll see.

“I love the club, I love the fans and today they were there for us again and we wanted to reward them, but I want them to be there again on Sunday and make the stadium an amazing venue, like always, for us.”

It's a massive statement from Van Dijk and really the first time that he or Salah have admitted to progress in talks. Alexander-Arnold, in contrast, never discusses contract talks in interviews (for now obvious reasons).

It's always been clear that Van Dijk would rather remain at Anfield, with next to no strong reports of talks elsewhere. Anfield Watch understands that his agent broke off talks with other clubs back in November.

The fact that some progress has been made suggests Liverpool are closing in on this one. Van Dijk, who has been the world's best defender once again this season, is nearing that new deal we've all been begging for.

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Fingers crossed it can happen soon, then.