‘Tie him down…’ – Liverpool urged to sort out contract situation ‘that trumps all’ at Anfield | OneFootball

After a season dominated by will-they-won’t-they contract sagas, Liverpool could find themselves at a similar crossroads again in a few months’ time.

Thankfully Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk have committed to the Reds for another couple of years, although Trent Alexander-Arnold has opted against penning a new deal at Anfield.

Four current first-team players in L4 have just over a year remaining on their existing terms – Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Caoimhin Kelleher and Vitezslav Jaros – but club chiefs have been urged to make someone else’s contract situation an urgent priority.

Journalists plead for Liverpool to give Slot a new contract

In the latest Liverpool Confidential feature for the Daily Mail, jointly penned by Lewis Steele and Dominic King, there was an unmistakable call to FSG to get cracking on a new agreement for Arne Slot, the man who masterminded the Reds’ runaway Premier League triumph in his first season in charge.

Although the 46-year-old still has two years remaining on his current deal, the journalists emphatically believe that the Anfield hierarchy must tie him down to extended and improved terms at the earliest opportunity.

They wrote: ‘Never mind Trent Alexander-Arnold, forget about the tens of names chugged out by the transfer rumour mill every single day – there is one piece of business they must do that trumps all. Arne Slot. Tie him down to a new, multi-year contract.

‘To put it simply, he is now the most important man in the building. Alexander-Arnold may be today’s news but will be tomorrow’s chip paper. Adios, he is gone and Liverpool now must move on.

‘One thing they will have learned from that saga, through no fault of the new regime’s making really, is that they cannot let the contracts of key figures run down and allow seeds of doubt over their futures to grow.’

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Encouragingly, it’s also claimed that ‘there have been whispers for some weeks now from the Netherlands’ that Richard Hughes and the Liverpool hierarchy are ‘keen to offer’ Slot a new deal less than a year after officially beginning his reign as head coach.

Slot absolutely deserves a new long-term contract at Liverpool

When it became an open secret 12 months ago that the Dutchman would be Jurgen Klopp’s replacement, many pundits (and even some LFC fans) were left rather surprised that the then-Feyenoord boss was entrusted with such a mammoth responsibility.

The 46-year-old has wasted no time in winning over any doubters or naysayers by romping to the Premier League title at his first attempt, having been widely predicted to struggle in following on from his illustrious predecessor, and also navigating the lengthy contract sagas involving Trent, Salah and Van Dijk.

The Daily Mail referenced how, within a few short months of Klopp arriving at Anfield, he agreed a new six-year deal despite results being nowhere near as consistent as Slot’s in 2024/25. Key boardroom figures may have come and gone since 2016, but the logic still stands.

The danger for Liverpool is that, if they’re not proactive in offering the head coach a contract extension in the near future, he could become coveted by other elite clubs around Europe. Does that dilemma sound familiar after all that’s gone on at the club since the start of this season?

Hughes will rightly be concentrating on overseeing a productive summer transfer window, and there are also decisions to be made regarding the quarter whose deals expire next year, but it’d certainly be a sensible move to make it abundantly clear to Slot that he’s wanted at Anfield for the long haul.