‘I think…’ – Jamie Carragher ‘confident’ on two Liverpool contracts but ‘worried’ about one more
Jamie Carragher is ‘confident’ that two Liverpool stalwarts will agree to contract extensions at Anfield but is fearful that one of their teammates won’t follow suit.
The crucial trio of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold all see their current deals expire at the end of this season, with speculation already rife as to whether or not they’ll still be at the club for the start of 2025/26.
Carragher shares Liverpool contracts verdict
Speaking on the Football Daily podcast for BBC 5 Live, the former Reds defender voiced his belief that the Egyptian forward (32) and Dutch defender (33) will stay put, but he doesn’t seem too sure that the England right-back will resist the ongoing overtures of Real Madrid.
Carragher said: “I’m pretty confident that the two older lads will sign, because I think they’re probably at the stage of their career now where it’s difficult to move to a club better than Liverpool for those two.
“For me, the only two clubs where sometimes, if I was in the dressing room when I was a player that people would move on to, would be the Spanish giants. I don’t really see that at the ages now for Virgil and Mo, and I think Mo Salah will be desperate to break as many records as he possibly can at Liverpool.
“I think the argument – we’ve all been there, haven’t we – where you’re looking for that last contract and it’s not really about money, it’s about maybe length of contract for those lads as they get a little bit older.
“Trent, he’s in a different situation, and that’s probably the one most people are now worried about, with the situation with Real Madrid obviously being interested, but also the fact that [Dani] Carvajal has just done his ACL, so they are obviously desperate for a right back as well for the next probably 18 months.”
Will Carragher be proven right?
Given the respective stages of their careers where each of the three players find themselves, Trent is indeed the one who seems most liable to leave Liverpool for a move which’d at least be on a par with the Reds.
Steve McManaman and Michael Owen both swapped Merseyside for Madrid in the past, although LFC are a much stronger team now than they had been when that duo left Anfield for the Bernabeu in 1999 and 2004 respectively.
Carragher isn’t the first pundit to mention Salah’s pursuit of scoring records at Liverpool, and a return of nine goals already this season suggests that the Egyptian could further embellish his place in the history books not just at his current club, but also in the history of the Premier League.
Both he and Van Dijk are still hitting enormously high standards with the Reds, and with neither of them on the wane, there seems a good chance that they’ll maintain the status quo for another couple of years before looking towards seeing out their illustrious careers elsewhere.
We can only hope that the ongoing sagas surrounding the crucial trio will reach a denouement sooner rather than later, and that it ends up with each of them still calling Anfield their home by the end of next summer.
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