Ex-Liverpool star urges Arne Slot to keep 3 players after transfer speculation

Senior members of Liverpool's squad are being linked with transfers away from the club, either now or in summer. Gary McAllister has named a trio he thinks should stay.

Gary McAllister has weighed in on the futures of three Liverpool stars. (Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

On the surface, Liverpool appeared to designate last summer as its major overhaul. It blew its spending record out of the water, parting with potential club-record fees for not one but two new players.

And yet despite this eye-catching largesse, it almost feels as if Liverpool has left itself with the bulk of the rebuild still to carry out. Arne Slot would be the first to tell you that this current iteration of the team feels a long way from the finished product.

That's not just because new signings have failed to fully deliver (although that certainly hasn't helped). Irrespective of their fortunes, Liverpool was still always going to be kicking the can down the road in respect of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

Of course, this was a conscious decision rather than an oversight. Richard Hughes made the unenviably tough call over their futures, choosing to renew both of their contracts last year.

At the time, this seemed like the only acceptable outcome to the majority of supporters. After all, Van Dijk and Salah were on the brink of leading Liverpool to a Premier League title, and were undoubtedly two of the most important figures along the way.

But a few months on, and it feels as though time may be catching up to the pair of them. There's every chance they would both look a whole lot better in a side that was functioning properly across the board, but they cannot escape scrutiny for their individual form.

Even so, Gary McAllister has urged his old club to stick with the two legends beyond the summer. Salah has been perenially linked with Saudi Arabia, and Van Dijk would have options too, but Liverpool has been warned not to be hasty.

"After the season he had last year, when Mo was particularly outstanding, and right through his entire time at Liverpool, his goal scoring, his stats, his assists, everything, all his numbers are outstanding," McAllister told OLBG. "He's a top player but he'd be the first guy to say that he's not had a great season...

"I know there's been a lot of talk about Mo maybe going to Saudi Arabia, and we had that little bit of a fallout too, but I still think he's got too much to offer. I think he can go there but as much as he's not a young man anymore he's not old; he's still got enough to be a big performer and a big player for Liverpool."

Liverpool has been told to keep Mohamed Salah at the club. (Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

There was a similar verdict on Van Dijk. McAllister believes that there are still very few who are better than the captain:

"Virgil van Dijk is a proper captain, a proper leader, and he's an honest player so he'll be the first guy to put his hand up and say, there's been errors there," McAllister acknowledged. "[But] the back four has been changed, it's been flipped around a wee bit and sometimes it's nice just to play with the same centre-half partner and the same full-back partner, and the goalkeeper has changed a bit too.

"That all sounds a wee bit like excuses but Virgil is still a top-drawer. I don't know if there's many other center-backs for Liverpool to look at, it's hard to name many better, right across all the leagues in Europe."

For all of the duo's struggles, many would agree with McAllister's bottom-line conclusion. Liverpool made a decision to commit to Salah and Van Dijk with new contracts, and a bad spell of form should not necessarily send Hughes rushing to hawk them to the highest bidders.

However, McAllister's verdict on Andy Robertson is a slightly tougher sell. He has seemingly advocted extending the Scot's contract beyond the end of the campaign.

Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk have been exceptional Liverpool servants. (Image: Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

"I actually think he's still got enough to stay at Liverpool," McAllister opined. "Kerkez is a player who's obviously young and he's shown moments where he can cope with being Liverpool's left-back but I think he still needs an Andy Robertson around.

"Whether Andy's happy with coming in and out, I've not really spoken to Andy, but knowing him, I know he wants to play football and he knows his level, he knows where he's at physically. I think he can still compete."

In fairness, Robertson has actually been the best performer out of the three veterans when called upon this season. But the fact his contract is running out makes his situation very different from those of Salah and Van Dijk.

It is hard to justify rolling the dice on yet another extension for an aging star, especially with Slot so committed to Kerkez as the future of the left-back position. Robertson has been a real asset to have around this season, for his leadership as much as his quality on the pitch, but it's a luxury that isn't worth what Liverpool would need to pay.

That's if any figure would be enough. Robertson would clearly prefer to be playing regularly, which rightly or wrongly is no longer the case with Kerkez in the squad.

Whatever Liverpool decides, it's apparent that there are more massive decisions on the horizon. It's been a quiet January, but make no mistake: last summer was only the beginning when it comes to reshaping this team, and there is more excitement (and disruption) ahead.