UEFA Champions League: How Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah could be tempted to leave Liverpool this summer
TNT Sports pundit Martin Keown believes Liverpool could cope without Mohamed Salah, should the striker leave Anfield when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk will also see their deals come to an end once the 2024/25 campaign concludes.
That was a third-successive victory in the competition for the Reds, boosting their chances of reaching the knock-out stages.
Keown says the only way to tie them down to new deals may be to win some silverware.
“The best way to keep them is to win things with them, because you have that togetherness and you don’t want to walk away from it,” said the ex-Arsenal defender.
“There’s no way Trent wants to leave that club. He’s born and bred a Liverpool player. You keep him there, for sure.
“Salah of course, looks like he’ll probably step out. Maybe they can carry that now, when you see [Luis] Diaz is stepping on. He’s been a revelation this season, completely. A much better player.
“They’ll probably go into the market and do that, but it’s very healthy at the moment.”
Former Liverpool forward Don Hutchinson, meanwhile, thinks Salah might be seduced into staying at Anfield by chasing club history.
The Egyptian arrived on Merseyside in 2017, and is already their leading Premier League goalscorer with 160 strikes.
With 218 goals across all competitions, he is fifth on the club’s all-time list, although he still has some way to go to hunt down Ian Rush, who is on 346.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Hutchinson added: “Salah wants a legacy. So does van Dijk. I feel as though Trent’s the hardest one, with Real Madrid calling.
“I can see a scenario where Trent might be tempted to go to Real Madrid and try something new after being at Liverpool for 20 years.
“I can understand if he wanted to try and play for Real Madrid with Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe.
“Van Dijk’s made noises over the last couple of days, where he’s said ‘the only club I’m in talks with is Liverpool’.
“If Mo Salah is trying to chase down certain records at Liverpool, he might want to leave a legacy behind.”