An unusual story for those who dominate.
If you try to name the best club in the world right now, most will probably name Liverpool. And this opinion is based not only on certain taste qualities, but also on statistics. The club is a confident leader in the Champions League and the English Championship. It seems that in such conditions you can calmly rest on your laurels, perfect your game and move towards these precious titles. But the pleasure of the results is increasingly spoiled by rumors about the departure of the team leaders. According to distant rumors, the losses of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah have become an almost decisive issue in a matter of weeks and days. But how could Liverpool, after having such a successful season, allow key figures to be left in the dark? Let’s not forget that Virgil van Dijk’s contract expires this summer. But there is less noise around him.
Real Madrid attack
All three could already negotiate a transfer to another club after the end of the season. Real Madrid, experienced in such subtle areas, has already started its information attack, creating the feeling that Alexander-Arnold’s transfer to Madrid is a done deal. We know that Florentino Perez will win his case sooner or later. A story with Kylian Mbappe showed a lot. Michael Owen, who knows a lot about transfers from Liverpool to Real Madrid, is convinced:
The very fact that Real Madrid have clearly stated their intention to sign Trent suggests that it is only a matter of time before a deal is agreed. If the player were to renew his contract, Real would not go on the offensive. There were surely preliminary negotiations.
And Owen’s former partner in Liverpool, Jamie Carragher, decided to accuse Trent of some kind of irresponsibility against the backdrop of these statements from Real:
I love Trent. But his agents probably advised Real to make such a statement. They understand that Liverpool, under current conditions, will refuse to sell the player this winter. And that will allow Trent to cover himself when he leaves for free in the summer. The Reds need to ignore this and fight for titles in 2025. Nobody’s contracts should become an obstacle.
Carragher may be right, but we should not place all the blame on Trent himself and those around him. After all, it’s not the children who work in Liverpool. The club should have understood the sensitivity of the situation. The situation did not develop in just a few weeks and days. The same Carragher also emphasized the loyalty that Alexander-Arnold must show, but did not evaluate the actions of Liverpool’s leaders. It might seem like they just went with the flow, realizing that it even works sometimes.
Bad lesson
You don’t need to look far for an example. How did Liverpool spend last summer? Looking for a defensive midfielder. Moreover, the need for his purchase had matured long before Arne Slott appeared on the coaching deck. For the club, it was task number one – for its administrative part. What did management do? Hit a wall trying to sign Martin Subimendi from Real Sociedad. They collided, bounced and walked away waving. It was Liverpool who were very lucky that Slot managed to free up Ryan Gravenberch as a defensive midfielder, creating a chemistry in midfield that allows them to do without strengthening that area. But the very solution to the problem from Liverpool bosses seemed irresponsible.
They approached the contract extensions of Salah, Trent and van Dijk in the same way. However, it’s more difficult here – it won’t resolve itself. More precisely, it can happen, but with much more serious consequences. You can’t replace these guys with just a coach’s ingenuity. Additionally, Liverpool are potentially losing huge amounts of money. After all, these players are now the best in the world in their role. And they will leave for free. This is what we are talking about when we say Liverpool have got themselves into a bind. Real Madrid, with its demonstrative maneuver, only demonstrates this helplessness of the Reds.
Trapped
Judge for yourself, selling Trent and Salah now would be risky. You gain access to the most prestigious titles and separate yourself from the leaders in the middle of the season – no one will understand such an action. All that remains is to hold them back. But in this case, Liverpool will lose both for free, although they could earn tens of millions of euros to buy a replacement. And if the club’s leaders had thought for a little more than half an hour, they would have foreseen this situation and would have made every effort to extend the contracts last season. Or they would have decided to sell Trent and Salah last summer, thus earning a decent salary.
However, the history of Subimendi and the defensive midfielder shows that the ‘waiting man’ position is the most acceptable to current Liverpool bosses. Of course, there is a counter-argument to the latter scenario with the management sale last summer. The Reds might no longer be top of the table without Salah and Trent. Champions League And nuclear submarine. However, how many of you thought the team would be leaders when Jurgen Klopp was replaced by Arne Slot and Liverpool failed to hold on? The current assessment, in retrospect, is therefore unfair.
Placing all the blame on the players themselves will not work. After such an exceptional season from Salah, the fans’ sympathies will be on his side: even at 32, he deserves a decent contract. And the pressure will be more and more intense. Even if Liverpool bosses simply give up and let the situation, meaning the players, go this summer, the discussion could create pressure within the team, on the manager. The slot machine already has to answer questions about the fate of these players too often. And this adds neither joy to the fight for the title nor stability in the game.
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