Virgil van Dijk was spotted in discussion with Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi moments after Liverpool’s devastating Champions League defeat.
The Reds saw their hopes of a historic treble come to an end on Tuesday as Gianluigi Donnarumma denied both Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones in the penalty shootout after a thrilling two-legged last 16 tie.
Ousmane Dembele had leveled the scores on aggregate early on, to cancel out Harvey Elliott’s goal from the first leg in Paris, and both sides had chances to take the lead but failed to break the deadlock before the game was settled in a shootout.
Emotions were high among both sets of players at the final whistle as the PSG squad celebrated in front of their traveling fans. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah appeared to be in tears as he made his way off the pitch.
The Egyptian is out of contract at the end of the season, alongside Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. As things stand, none of the trio have agreed an extension and will depart on free transfers unless that changes.
While Salah and Alexander-Arnold have been linked with other clubs, it appears certain that Van Dijk will extend his stay on Merseyside. French journalist Josue Casse posted from inside the Anfield tunnel after the game, showing the Dutchman speaking to Al-Khelaifi, although the nature of their discussion is unclear. It is highly unlikely that the PSG chief would have been making a ploy to sign the Liverpool captain minutes after the final whistle.
Speaking to Amazon Prime after the game, Van Dijk called on his teammates to shift their focus to Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle at Wembley. He said: “I think we were pretty good today as well, and you want to go as far as possible, but we knew when we drew PSG it was going to be very difficult.
“It was a very intense great game of football, I think to be part of it as well. It was totally there for Liverpool and what we showed in Paris and unfortunately were out on penalties and that is the reality
“We saw in Paris when we struggled but we won, and today we saw a very good Liverpool side but we’re out of the competition.
“It’s part of football, I said to the guys, obviously, you can be disappointed because we’re out of the competition, but chin up and get ready for the next challenge, a beautiful one on the weekend.”
