Arne Slot wasn’t asked a single question on West Ham United in Friday’s press conference. There wasn’t time.
Manager media briefings are, at least in principle, supposed to be about previewing the upcoming game. In reality, the opposition is rarely the biggest talking point when the 20 Premier League clubs conduct their weekly press conferences.
This week underlined that and there was only one story in town on Friday as journalists arrived at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre: Mohamed Salah’s contract extension.
A quick question on injury news was squeezed in at the end, along with Slot’s thoughts on semi-automated offsides being introduced, while just two questions were posed to the Dutchman about the side’s recent run following that Fulham defeat last weekend, the team’s first on the road in the Premier League this season.
They were dispersed intermittently among questions about Salah, what his extension means for Liverpool, whether Slot was relieved, what more is to come from the Egyptian and how his stay would impact this summer’s transfers plans.
It underlined how seismic this announcement is. Liverpool fans have waited all season to see the 32-year-old, beaming with a pen in his hand. It puts an end to one of the big contract uncertainties that has hung over the team and Slot this season.
The Liverpool boss has become used to questions on contracts in the last few months but he even chucked when one on Friday was preceded by the prologue: “Just back to Moh.”
He’ll be pleased to put this particular matter to bed. “Mo performed so well, the club performed so well with you guys only talking about their contracts,” Slot said to the assembled reporters in the room.
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“He’s shown at this club for some many years in a row how much value he has for the team and the club,” the former Feyenoord coach added. “Like all our fans and his teammates, we are very happy he has extended for two more years. Hopefully he can show on Sunday again how important he has been for the whole season.”
Not that the contract questions are over with. He batted away three on Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold ’s future ahead of West Ham. Slot can expect a few of his final six pre-match press conferences this season to revolve around the futures of his defenders. “There is not a lot of time to go so you will get your answers in the next two months,” he remarked.
That the futures of Liverpool’s chief triumvirate have all remained unresolved this season has led to a feeling of uncertainty about the team’s next steps in the post- Jurgen Klopp era. In the long-term, Liverpool should be fine. With efficient owners, intelligent decision-makers, a huge fanbase and an unrivalled history, the Reds are among the best placed in the country – and Europe – to succeed over the next 10 years. But how the next two years pan out has felt unpredictable this season. How big a rebuild will the club need this summer? How far back could the departures of the trio set them back?
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As good as Liverpool has been this season – an 11-point gap at the top of the table highlights that – there has been a slightly short-term sense to the Reds, a perception of jeopardy about whether they compete for the top prizes again next year.
With Van Dijk expected to stay, along with Salah, that no longer feels like a concern for Liverpool fans. Yes, right-back will probably need to be strengthened, assuming Alexander-Arnold heads off to the Spanish capital, but the rest of Slot’s soon-to-be title-winning team is set to remain intact
Indeed, with finances available to strengthen the squad, the group available to Slot next season should be deeper, more talented and contain more variation next season. This side is now finally in a position where silverware over the coming years feels likely – something Salah and Slot acknowledged.
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“What it might tell you is that it’s not a good season this season but next season as well,” the latter explained on Friday. “Mo is convinced we have a fair chance of being able to do so. Again, that’s positive.”
The challenge now – after Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold’s futures are concluded – is to make additions elsewhere. A left-back, holding midfielder and striker increasingly feel like musts, while signing a new center-back, an attacking midfielder and a left winger are at least up for debate.
Suddenly that all feels more manageable. This is the guarantee that the week’s transfer news has brought; in the short-term Liverpool will be the side everyone else will be gunning for.
