With Virgil van Dijk entering the final year of his contract, could Liverpool’s transfer market plans foreshadow a tricky decision on the captain’s future?
Van Dijk inherited the captain’s armband at Anfield a year ago and the Dutchman will enjoy a resurgence at the heart of Jurgen Klopp’s defence.
But in a summer of change for Liverpool, there is genuine cause for concern over the long-term future of one of the club’s greatest ever players.
Not only Van Dijk, but also Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah will tick off the final 12 months of their tenures on July 1, with no decision on whether or not they will be extended.
This was largely explained by the significant handover of the pitch after Klopp’s resignation, with German leaving his position and Arne Slott coming in as the club’s first coach.
A new era at Anfield
Slott’s role formally began in early June, but it wasn’t until the end of his third week that the Dutchman was officially introduced.
At the boardroom level, Fenway Sports Group convinced Michael Edwards to return to the newly created position of general manager of football, and he then named Richard Hughes as sporting director and David Woodfine in a supporting role.
With many of his players – including Van Dijk – out for either the European Championships or the Copa America, the new head coach will start pre-season with a reduced squad.
But even when those key names do come forward, Slott will be out of his hands to make the biggest decisions regarding his team’s composition.
Instead, the burden of recruiting and retention rests with Hughes and Woodfine, who themselves report to Edwards, and the change from manager to head coach is intentional.
All indications are that Slott is planning the new season with his countryman, Van Dijk, still in the main role at the back.
Beyond that, however, the peace surrounding his contract situation raises the possibility that Liverpool’s decision-makers could be focused more on succession than continuity.
With the transfer window now open, reliable links with a number of centre-backs can be instructive.
Signing a new centre-back
Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori are two such examples; both left-sided defenders whose ability to play from the back makes them a logical fit in Slott’s system.
Should he become available, with suggestions of interest from Bayern Munich, it would not be a surprise to see Chelsea’s Levi Colwill also back on the radar.
Under the other coach being considered for the role, Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim, Liverpool would likely have to adapt to a three-man defence, with any interest in Guehi, Calafiori or Colwill designed to complement Van Dijk and his usual partner in the middle.
But with Slott using a similar formation to Klopp, with an inverted right-back and an overlapping left-back, any new arrival would be more likely to be a back-up or competition for the number 4 himself.
That makes his contract situation intriguing, especially with the reintroduction of Edwards into his starring role.
‘Real football era’
Earlier, the big calls over which players would stay or go fell increasingly on Klopp, whose undoubted brilliance was somewhat offset by a sense that he might be too loyal to his mainstays.
Take Jordan Henderson, for example, who has extended his contract with Liverpool in the summer of 2021 as the club have tied down a number of high-profile players.
Henderson, through his representatives, has publicly attracted interest from Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain before putting pen to paper on a new four-year contract that will take him past his 35th birthday.
Even at the time it was far from universally seen as a wise decision among fans, with Sky Sports’ Melissa Reddy later reporting that sections of the club’s transfer staff agreed.
“Some in Liverpool’s recruitment team have been saying that the team is moving away from the ‘real football era’,” Reddy wrote.
“They felt a new contract extension was not the best strategy for a spine that had had multiple seasons of demanding football take a toll on their bodies and minds.”
Not only did Henderson agree new terms that summer, but so did four others whose extensions would take them into the 30s.
Van Dijk signed his current four-year deal to take him to his 34th birthday, as well as Alisson’s six-year extension, while Fabinho agreed to see him out until 33 and Andy Robertson until he is 32.
Although Edwards’ decision to leave his role as Liverpool sporting director was something he insisted was “always planned”, there was a strange moment as he announced his departure just months later that summer.
It was speculated that a mismatch between Edwards’ vision and the plans unfolding under Klopp led to his departure.
That was only magnified when the 44-year-old returned to the squad – albeit as part of FSG and not Liverpool directly – shortly after Klopp left.
An unpleasant decision
So what could this mean when it comes to Van Dijk’s contract situation?
Well, with talks still to take place between the club and the player who turns 33 later in June, there could be increasing doubt that an extension will not follow.
This is only helped by the belief that his representatives have shown potential interest in Saudi Arabia.
If Van Dijk – or Salah for that matter – were to put pen to paper on a new deal with Liverpool, it’s likely that the club’s more calculating decision-makers would be reluctant to pay a hefty salary to a player past his prime Dob.
Instead, there is a plausible argument that perhaps Edwards, Hughes and Co. they are actually planning for life without Van Dijk – not this year, but maybe next – and any move for a new centre-back this summer could see those plans put into action.
But after his strong return to form in 2023/24, it’s fair to question whether that, if it turns out to be the case, would make as much football sense as business sense.
