Three of Liverpool’s biggest stars are out of contract soon but Arne Slot is still smiling about it

Mohamad Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have entered the final months of their contracts at Liverpool and can leave as free agents at the end of the season.

Yet, manager Arne Slot still found time to joke about the situation on Friday when quizzed about their futures.

“It’s the same boring answer as always and I could really understand if you ask me this once every two weeks but if you ask me this after two or three days again then you still get the same answer and people feel that I’m boring them,” Slot told reporters at his media conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace. “So, try it after the international break again.”

Questions about Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold will only grow as the season goes on and their contracts run down. All three will be able to talk to potential suitors outside of England from January.

All three are Liverpool icons given their roles in leading the Merseyside club to its first league title in 30 years in 2020 and having won the Champions League the season before.

Alexander-Arnold is a home-grown talent and, at the age of 26, a player whose best years are likely ahead of him.

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In the cases of Salah, 32, and Van Dijk, 33, Liverpool are dealing with players at the latter stages of their careers, who are unlikely to have any sell-on value if handed long-term deals.

Those are factors that Liverpool executives such as football CEO Michael Edwards will have to consider.

Salah, who has consistently been linked with a move to the Saudi League, has been in outstanding form this season, with six goals in nine games as Liverpool has risen to the top of the Premier League and made a perfect start in the Champions League. If he is not to be offered a new deal, a January move would be a final chance to realize a financial return on the forward, who cost around $50 million when signed from Roma in 2017.

That would have a potentially detrimental impact on Liverpool’s season, while Salah would also miss out on a hefty signing bonus he would be able to negotiate as a free agent.

The same applies with Van Dijk, who is Liverpool’s captain and remains a rock at the heart of the defense.

Salah said he is treating this like his last season at the club, while Van Dijk has said he is calm about his position.

Liverpool spent around $150 million in total to sign the duo, who were so pivotal to its success under former manager Jurgen Klopp, and it would likely cost well in excess of that to replace them with like-for-like players.

All three players have been important to what has been such a promising start for Slot since he succeeded Klopp in the offseason.

And Slot was keen Friday to focus on maintaining that form, rather than contract discussions.

Liverpool can move four points clear at the top by beating Palace in the early kickoff, before defending champion Manchester City and Arsenal play later in the day.

There was no danger, he said, of his team getting carried away with its early success under him.

“We are Liverpool, so players are used to being on top of the league,” he said. “It would be very weird if a player at Liverpool is all of a sudden with his head in the clouds.”

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer