Liverpool are preparing to play Leicester on Sunday as they near the finishing line of the Premier League season. The Reds could clinch the title this weekend if they win and Arsenal lose against Ipswich, and there is a good feeling around the club at present.
The past week has brought the news of new contracts for Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who will stay for a further two seasons at least. Salah and Van Dijk have penned significant deals to boost Arne Slot in his pursuit of further silverware beyond this season’s Premier League title.
Despite the undoubted good news, there remains an elephant in the room at Liverpool with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future still unresolved. The right-back is nearing a return, having been out injured for a month, but his potential move to Real Madrid means his time on Merseyside could be coming to an end.
Those were the issues that dominated Slot’s pre-match press conference on Friday morning. Here are the headlines from Mirror Football.
The Liverpool boss was happy to talk about the new contracts for Salah and Van Dijk and what it means for the team going forward.
“It tells you that we want to keep our best players,” Slot said. “The players that have played a great season for so many years in row. When we are able to keep them as free agents, it tells the ambitions we have for the upcoming years. I’m really happy both extended.
“Virgil has so important, defensively and offensively, in and around dressing room. A great personality and a great football player.”
Slot was much more cagey when asked about his star defender, who is now the odd one out following his team-mates’ commitment.
“No, I think you would be surprised if I answered differently to the rest of the season,” Slot said in his press conference. “It is for hours the same answer: we don’t talk about these things when they are not done and they are not.
“Trent is coming back from injury and trained with us this week, he has shown his commitment and he shows me what a player he is when he is on a pitch and how much he works hard to be back with the team and the fans of LFC, everyone who watches football knows he is an incredible full-back for this club, so let’s see what the future brings.”
Slot did speak about Trent’s comeback from an ankle injury, which he picked up against Paris Saint-Germain last month. “Trent is coming back from an injury, he trained with us yesterday and every time he plays with us and trains with us he shows his commitment,” he said.
“[He is] not [ready] to start but if things go well today and tomorrow, he might – might – be on the bench. But definitely not to start because he is out for five-and-a-half weeks and this is today probably his first session with the team.
“It was Wednesday I think he did parts of the team session. So he’s not able to start but hopefully he can be able to join us because for Conor [Bradley], he has been out for a long time so for him to play 90 isn’t easy as well. So it would be nice if Trent is with us during the weekend, yes.”
Darwin Nunez was back in training ahead of the Leicester game, but Joe Gomez remains out.
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