Virgil van Dijk was quizzed on his future following Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League – and his answer could not have been more different to that given by Mohamed Salah at the weekend.
Salah’s revelation – that he was ‘probably more out than in’ – dominated the pre-match discussion ahead of Wednesday’s heavyweight Champions League clash at Anfield.
The Egyptian missed a penalty on the night, shortly after Kylian Mbappe failed with a spot-kick of his own, but a pair of second-half goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo secured the Reds a deserved win.
The result extended Liverpool’s near-faultless start to the season in all competitions, with the Merseyside giants winning all but two of their games since Arne Slot took over the reins from Jurgen Klopp in the summer.
But questions linger over the future of key men Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who are all out of contract at the end of the 2024/25 campaign, and rumours and gossip are likely to swirl until the situation becomes clearer.
‘We are almost in December and I haven’t received an offer to stay at the club yet so I am probably more out than in,’ Salah told NBC Sports after Liverpool’s win over Southampton on Sunday.
‘I have been at the club for many years. There is no club like this but in the end it is not in my hands. As I said before, it is December and I haven’t received anything yet about my future.’
It’s not the first time Salah has teased his possible departure this season, with the forward appearing to confirm that this year would be his last with Liverpool in the aftermath of the side’s victory at Manchester United in September.
Van Dijk has opted to remain far more tight-lipped than his team-mate and the Dutchman gave a typically cool response when collared in the mixed zone last night.
Asked whether he plans to stay at Liverpool, Van Dijk told Spanish TV programme El Chringuito TV: ‘What a direct question from you! They don’t ask me that direct.
’But listen, there is, at the moment, nothing I can say. The only thing that I can say is I’m fully focused on Man City from now on.’
The reporter was not done there, though, telling Van Dijk that Madrid badly needed a top-class central defender of his ilk.
‘Do they? I don’t know.’
Reminded of Madrid’s injury problems in defence, Van Dijk replied: ‘But [Antonio] Rudiger is there, no?’
Further pressed on whether a move to Madrid could be possible next summer, the Liverpool captain responded: ‘In the summer?!
‘Like I said to you before, the main focus at the moment, for me, is Man City.
‘Liverpool, I’m full focused on that, and I have nothing else to say regarding my future.’
At a press conference on Tuesday, Liverpool head coach Slot insisted he was relaxed about the situation following Salah’s latest remark about his future.
‘I’ve said many times that we don’t share this [details about negotiations] over here,’ Slot told reporters.
‘The only thing I can say is that if I look at my line-ups, Mo is more in than out. That quote I can give you.’
He continued: ‘I don’t think he is distracted at all, I haven’t seen that after the Manchester United game when he made some comments or after a post [on social media] which you told me about, I didn’t see anything today in training.
‘He’s just fully focused on the game tomorrow and I think these kinds of things are big in the media and with fans but I didn’t see one player talk about it at training, at least while I was there.
‘Players are also focused on the short term and that is Madrid and Manchester City [at the weekend] and by the time Mo’s contract is extended, players don’t look at it that way. We as a club of course do but the players don’t.
‘So I don’t think there are any distractions for him or the players and definitely not for me. I was working yesterday on preparing the team in the best possible way and there was not one time where I thought about sitting here today talking about Mo.’
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