Liverpool's silence on Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold speaks volumes

It’s the elephant in the room at Liverpool.

All the talk is about how well Arne Slot is doing, , how they’re not conceding many goals and that tougher challenges lie ahead. Hanging over this like a dark, foreboding cloud is the uncertainty surrounding the futures of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk.

They’re not just three top players, but the three best and most important players at Liverpool. It’s impossible to contemplate Liverpool without them next season, .

Liverpool have closed down all communication about their contract negotiations to avoid the drip, drip of news. Publicly director of football Richard Hughes refused to be drawn on their futures, insisting it is a private matter between the club and the players.

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But in the absence of any guidance from the club, the void is filled with speculation - and tons of it. And then there are the Liverpool fans, desperately trawling through all this, hoping for some positive signs.

Their feelings can be summed up when Salah scored Liverpool’s second against Bologna last week to become the first Reds player to net in five consecutive Champions League home games. ‘Give him whatever he wants’ and ‘put a blank contract in front of him and he can just sign it’ are just some of their thoughts.

They were alarmed when Salah revealed after excelling against Manchester United at the start of September that the club had yet to make him an offer with the months ticking down on his current deal. The thinking was Liverpool wanted to get the transfer window out of the way with their new backroom team of Hughes, Michael Edwards and Julian Ward.

But with Liverpool doing very little in the window, what could be more important than securing the futures of your three best players? Salah is the big concern and he will be free to speak to foreign clubs from January 1 and the fear is he will be lured to Saudi Arabia’s Pro League.

It seems inevitable that Salah will end up in Saudi Arabia as it is just across the Red Sea from his home in Egypt and he is the league’s obvious poster boy. Liverpool rejected a £150million offer from Pro League side Al-Ittihad last year and the ambitious Saudis can dwarf the reported £350,000-a-week he picks up as the club’s top earner.

Salah, who turns 33 in June, has already proved this season he can excel in the Premier League and Champions League and this is Liverpool’s trump card in hanging on to him. He loves playing at the top level in world football and Jordan Henderson was shocked by the drop-off in standards with some clubs averaging crowds of just a few thousand.

Salah’s ego may not be able to handle this lack of limelight, despite all the tens of millions he would earn. Van Dijk, who is reportedly Liverpool’s second top earner on £220,000-a-week, and he is 34 in July, which should limit his suitors.

He loves captaining Liverpool and it appears a no-brainer, given his vast influence in the dressing room, to hand him at least a two-year deal. Alexander-Arnold, who was 26 on Monday and is said to be the club’s third highest-earner on £200,000-a-week, appears to be more tricky.

Although he has been at the club since he was six and is a fan, he says trophies are his biggest motivation. He could stay at Liverpool and eventually succeed Van Dijk as captain to fulfil another career ambition, but he wants to be where he can win the most trophies.

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Real Madrid are said to be lurking in the background and he could join them on a free and join up with his England pal Jude Bellingham. Alexander-Arnold has already won everything at Liverpool - and Real are the best bets to win even more.

Money should not be a problem and Liverpool made £42.8million in the summer transfer window, while replacing the trio would cost them the thick end of £200million. But can they persuade Salah, Alexander-Arnold and van Dijk their futures should like at Anfield?

That is the question every Liverpool fan is desperate to see answered as the clock continues to tick down.

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