Mark Lawrenson believes it is crucial that Liverpool ties Virgil van Dijk down to a new deal at Anfield. The Dutch defender is one of three key Reds players who, as things stand, will be able to leave the club for free when their contracts expire at the end of this season.
Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also into the final 12 months of their deals, and Liverpool has some tricky decisions ahead in terms of which players they should prioritise keeping.
All three players are among the best in the world in their position, but Van Dijk and Salah are 33 and 32 years old respectively, and Liverpool does not tend to hand lengthy contracts to players who are the wrong side of 30.
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Alexander-Arnold is the youngest of the three players by some distance at 25 years old, but Lawrenson still thinks retaining Van Dijk is the biggest priority for the Reds.
“I think the most important player of the three that Liverpool need to sign on is Virgil van Dijk,” Lawrenson told Sports Casting. “It’s not just about his playing ability but what he gives the team in the dressing room and his leadership qualities on the pitch. He really runs that team and would be a massive miss. We’ve seen Liverpool struggle to cover that centre-back spot when one of them gets injured in the past, so it’ll benefit them in the long term if he stays at the club longer.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that any one of him, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah leaving would cost Liverpool hundreds of millions in terms of replacing them. These three guys have earned the right to do whatever they want though, so you can’t really look at them and say, ‘why are they leaving?’ It’s a tough one for the owners, but that’s the way that it is.”
Van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton in 2018, signing for a huge £75million ($100m) transfer fee, and has played an important role in Liverpool's successes in recent years, winning the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as several pieces of domestic silverware.
The Dutchman said during the September international break that he wants to stay at Liverpool until at least 2026. He said: “At both teams (Liverpool and the Netherlands) I am still Virgil van Dijk, the big leader! And I certainly want to remain that for the next two years."
