FILE - Former England and Liverpool star Michael Owen chatted to IOL Sport about the future off the Reds' three most important players.
Image: Glyn Kirk / AFP
Former Liverpool star Michael Owen is confident that at least one of the Reds’ big three players who are out of contract this season will re-sign with the club.
Captain and defender Virgil van Dijk, right-back Trent Alexander Arnold and superstar forward Mohamed Salah are in the last few months of their contracts, with Liverpool in real danger of losing three of their most influential players.
Alexander-Arnold seems to be out of the door already, with rumours linking him with a free transfer to Real Madrid. The Spanish giants love picking up star players for free after signing out-of-contract Kylian Mbappe from PSG at the start of the campaign.
However, there has been no concrete speculation about Van Dijk’s future, with the 33-year-old only getting the odd link to the Saudi Pro League, while PSG has also been mentioned.
Manager Arne Slot has voiced his desire to keep the defender at the club, and it may be a case of them focusing on winning the league before a deal is finalised.
According to Owen, Van Dijk is the one player out of the three who is likely to stay at the club despite the contract situation basically dragging on the entire season.
However, the former England striker Michael Owen admits Salah’s situation is less clear despite the forward playing such a crucial role in Liverpool’s league campaign, which is likely to end with a first Premier League title since the Covid-19 hit 2020/21 season.
“If Trent Alexander-Arnold left, they have a natural replacement in Connor Bradley. I don’t think people would be too worried,” Owen told IOL Sport.
“The other two I think are the big problem. How do you replace Virgil van Dijk? How do you replace Mohamed Salah?
“My gut feeling is that Van Dijk will stay. Alexander-Arnold will leave and I’m 50-50 on Mo Salah. I think Salah wants to stay and Liverpool want to keep him, but there is a big disparity between what he wants and what Liverpool wants to offer. That would be a huge moment for Liverpool.”
Owen says he doesn’t expect many departures following a wonderful league season for Liverpool. The Reds are 12 points clear at the top of the standings with nine matches to play in Slot’s first season in charge after replacing cult hero Jurgen Klopp.
The transition from the German to the Dutch manager has been seamless. Owen says the key is that Slot hasn’t come in and thrown the baby out with the bath water, basically using Klopp’s systems as a platform to build.
Owen, however, believes that inconsistent striker Darwin Nunez could be one of the players to be moved on in the British summer after another frustrating season for the Uruguay targetman.
“It’s been a brilliant transition. What has helped is the squad, there has been virtually no change whatsoever,” Owen said.
“The only difference is that (Ryan) Gravenberch came into a different position (in midfield) and had really played well. Apart from that it’s been exactly the same. The manager coming in and not changing a lot of things helped.
“I don’t think many people believed that Liverpool would win the league, nevermind streaking away with it in March.”
But Owen is rather disappointed that Liverpool “didn’t cash in” and won more cups.
Over the last month the Reds were knocked out of the FA Cup at the first time of asking, before being dumped out of the Champions League by PSG in the round of 16 after finishing the league phase at the top of the standings. Liverpool then lost to Newcastle United in the final of the League Cup.
However, they are still favourites to seal the league. Their gap over Arsenal gives them some room for slip-ups over the next month.
“If you said to all the Liverpool fans before the season they would win one trophy and that would be the Premier League, they would have snapped your hand off,” Owen said.
“In the league … it’s almost a foregone conclusion now, they have basically almost won that trophy. So there was a focus on how many they can actually win, but in a space of a couple weeks they are out of all three and it feels like the season is heading towards an anti-climax, which it shouldn't be.
“But I’m sure in a few weeks people will forget about it and be really excited about clinching that Premier League trophy. The only thing is when you are dominant and have a great team, you have to cash in and win as many trophies as you can.
“We know how competitive it is and great teams don’t last forever.”
* The interview with Michael Owen was courtesy of SunBet, who is running an exciting new competition where one lucky winner could win a R100,000 VIP UK experience, including:
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