Liverpool transfers: Souness gives Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold verdict

As Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent-Alexander-Arnold are just two months away from being able to negotiate with other clubs, it is no longer inconceivable that they might leave the club.

Each of them makes up the spine of Arne Slot's side as almost guaranteed names on the team sheet when fit.

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And yet not even one of their contract sagas is even remotely close to being resolved according to recent reports and so Liverpool will likely enter next season with a significant loss on their hands.

Van Dijk, 33, is currently captain of the club and his country, and he has made clear his desire to stay for the next few years. His loss would be monumental in defence as he is still - even despite his ACL tear in 2021 - widely considered to be the best centre-back in the world, returning to the remarkable standard he was playing to before his injury.

Salah, 32, finds himself still putting up elite attacking numbers, almost seven seasons after his record-breaking return to the Premier League in 2017. He has remastered the role of a right-winger in this country as he has risen to become one of the top 10 goalscorers of the Premier League era, playing at a consistent level that we haven't seen since Thierry Henry retired.

And Trent, 26, the home-grown Scouse talent who has completely redefined the expectations of a right-back, through his mind-boggling passing ability and his desire to get forward as often as possible, making himself a player everyone looks for on the pitch. In search of trophies and potentially captaining the Reds one day to follow the footsteps of Steven Gerrard - this would be a gut-punch, to say the least.

Salah and Trent on their way out the door?

In his latest column for the Daily Mail, Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has chimed in with his thoughts on how the contract dilemma will unfold.

He said: "Trent seems to have a relationship with Bellingham at Real Madrid. Would it surprise me if he ends up going there? No.

"Would it surprise me if Virgil stayed? No. He is the one of the three I think is most likely to remain because at this moment in time, where is he going to go to get more money and a bigger football club?

"Would it surprise me if Salah stayed? Slightly. Because I think there would be huge appeal to him - as an Egyptian and a Muslim - in earning astronomical money for the next three or four years in Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam and a country which has a maritime border with his own."

While Souness, and almost every Liverpool fan, will be hoping the Reds keep hold of all three, even if only for a short while, the reality is that at this stage, the odds aren't quite there.

Each of the three players will feel they deserve to be at the very top of the club's wage structure and some may even desire a move away, which is a possible reason why no breakthroughs have been made in negotiations quite yet.