Liverpool are currently facing the prospect of losing three of the most important figures in the club's recent history in one summer, and without recouping a penny in return.
Star trio Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all now entered the final nine months of their contracts at Anfield, and from January will be allowed to talk to foreign clubs about a free transfer at the end of the season should nothing change before then.
The prospect of losing three players who would be contenders for places in the club's all-time XI at the same time is unthinkable and could have an immediate impact on the current Premier League leaders' ability to continue competing at the top of English and European football.
However, talks have progressed over the past month or so, and the 19-time English champions are hopeful of keeping hold of at least two of the talismanic figures.
Van Dijk could be the first of those to put pen to paper, following in the footsteps of fellow centre-backs Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate, the latter of whom is expected to sign a new deal imminently.
However, when it comes to choosing a priority to target between three integral parts of the recent success of the club, who between them have made almost 1,000 Liverpool appearances, many fans may be torn.
Here, Sports Mole editor Barney Corkhill and Liverpool expert David Lynch look at the cases of all three players to be considered as the number one priority for the Reds to tie down as soon as possible.
Mohamed Salah
© Imago
Age: 32
Position: Right winger
Liverpool appearances: 359
Liverpool goals: 217
Liverpool assists: 94
Wages: £350,000 per week
Wanted by: Saudi Pro League clubs
Priority level: Lowest
PROS
Just look at those stats.
Salah has directly contributed to 311 goals in 359 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions since his arrival from Roma in 2017, surpassing all expectations upon his return to the Premier League following an earlier unsuccessful stint with Chelsea, where he played just twice in the top flight.
With 11 direct goal contributions in 10 games so far this season, Salah also shows no sign of slowing down - indeed, his ratio of more than one goal or assist per game in 2024-25 outstrips the average from the rest of his Liverpool career.
Age is something to keep an eye on and a possible hurdle when it comes to discussions over contract length, but Salah also keeps himself in notoriously good shape and looks every bit as fast, strong and agile as he ever has.
Many forwards now are playing into their late 30s, and Salah's dedication to his fitness has even been compared to that of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still plundering goals for club and country at 39.
Joining Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia appears the most likely outcome if Salah does leave Liverpool this summer, but he will no doubt feel that he has a few years left at the highest level.
Liverpool themselves would also surely regret losing their greatest goalscorer since Ian Rush a couple of years earlier than they need to, especially on a free transfer when they turned down a £150m bid just a couple of summers ago.
Indeed, Salah could lay claim to being an even better scorer than Rush given his goals-per-game ratio is only bettered by Gordon Hodgson among Liverpool's leading scorers of all time - a list which sees the Egyptian occupy fifth place.
The winger has ended every season since joining Liverpool as the club's top scorer - never failing to score fewer than 23 in a campaign - and should he do the same again in 2024-25 then he would join Roger Hunt as the only players in the club's history to have finished as the leading goal-getter in eight successive seasons.
Given those statistics, it is perhaps unsurprising that his name has been increasingly mentioned alongside the likes of Sir Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard in the conversation of Liverpool's greatest-ever player, and therefore losing him on a free transfer would be particularly difficult to take.
CONS
So, how could a man who can lay claim to being in the conversation for Liverpool's GOAT be their lowest priority to sign a new contract?
Well, that is more down to the pros of the other two than any cons of Salah, but there are a couple of notable factors - namely age and wage - which combine to place the Egyptian King at the bottom of the pile.
"I agree on Salah [being the lowest priority]," Liverpool expert David Lynch told Sports Mole.
"I think it's maybe not even to characterise him as the one they can afford to lose, because in terms of output and goals and assists, he's going to be Liverpool's top scorer again this season, surely, like he always is, and he probably will be next season if he was still around.
"He's vital in terms of what they do, but his is just a trickier situation because of the size of the wage, the fact that attackers, when they do decline, it seems to happen like that.
"That's just a massive concern, and if he's saying, 'well, look, I could go and get a three-year deal in Saudi at this kind of money - I don't want a two-year deal', or 'I don't want a one-year deal, and that's all Liverpool are giving me', that is difficult.
"I can see Liverpool's side of things, because there is a possibility that decline comes from nowhere, that the numbers drop off.
"You do not want to be paying him for what he's done, you want to pay him for what he's doing, and there's an inherent risk with him, which I don't feel with Trent, whose peak years are ahead of him, but similarly with Van Dijk."
Salah is the highest-paid player at Liverpool, and while Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold are already second and third in that list too, Salah is quite a way clear on £350,000 per week compared to £220,000 per week for Van Dijk.
There is also the factor of a succession plan, and with Liverpool already boasting a forward line containing six players of starting XI quality - albeit none with anything close to Salah's record - the Egyptian's absence may be felt less keenly than those of Van Dijk or Alexander-Arnold.
Having an extra £350,000 per week to play with would also put Liverpool in a strong position to sign a replacement should they opt to dip into the transfer market, and a forward to replace Salah might be easier to find than a centre-back on the same level as Van Dijk.
On top of that, Salah may well be the player pushing for an exit the most; given his standing in the Arab world, he would become the star figure of the Saudi Pro League should he make that switch, above even Ronaldo, and the allure of that alongside what is sure to be a gargantuan wage is sure to be tempting.
Virgil van Dijk
© Imago
Age: 33
Position: Centre-back
Liverpool appearances: 279
Liverpool goals: 24
Liverpool assists: 12
Wages: £220,000 per week
Wanted by: Saudi Pro League clubs
Priority level: Middle
PROS
For all of Salah's goals and records, ask Liverpool supporters who is their most important player right now, and the answer you'd hear most often is likely to be Virgil van Dijk.
Eyebrows were raised when the Reds parted with a world-record sum for a defender to bring him in from Southampton in 2018, but within months it was evident that the £75m fee was money well spent.
Alongside Alisson Becker's arrival, the signing of Van Dijk provided the final piece of the jigsaw for Liverpool to regain their spot at the top of English, European and world football under Jurgen Klopp.
Since then, the Dutch colossus has regularly been hailed as one of the best defenders in Premier League history, with some even putting him in the conversation about the greatest centre-backs ever seen in football.
Like Salah, Van Dijk has been in imperious form so far in 2024-25, leading a Liverpool defence which is the best in England despite being the eldest of the three players in question at 33.
"Van Dijk - I just think, because he's a centre-back, he can play longer," Lynch told Sports Mole.
"He's looking as good as he ever has, and because they're playing in a system now with a little bit more protection in front of them, that will prolong him as well. He's having to do less sprints back and defending one-on-one, even though he can absolutely do that.
"He's on lesser wages than Salah as well - there's quite a significant difference there."
Van Dijk took over the captain's armband from Jordan Henderson last year, but had long since established himself as one of the leaders in the team before that.
Given his unique mix of pace, power, aerial dominance, reading of the game, aura, leadership and world-class quality, Van Dijk would surely be the toughest of the three players to replace.
With only Ibrahima Konate, Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez as the other centre-back options in Liverpool's current squad, they already lack a bit of depth in that area without losing the best in the world in that position.
© Imago
CONS
Van Dijk's attributes make the cons of keeping him a very short list.
At £220,000 per week, he is more expensive than Alexander-Arnold, but few would argue against him being worth that to the team.
Perhaps the most glaring factor is his age - he would be 34 going into next season, and questions would then naturally be asked about how long he has left at the very top level.
Van Dijk does partially rely on some physical attributes which tend to decline with age - most notably pace - but his pace comes largely from his stride length in full flow, while his exceptional reading of the game would also help to mitigate any loss of speed.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
© Imago
Age: 26
Position: Right-back
Liverpool appearances: 319
Liverpool goals: 19
Liverpool assists: 83
Wages: £180,000 per week
Wanted by: Real Madrid
Priority level: Highest
PROS
A Liverpool lad born and bred, Alexander-Arnold has locality and age on his side when being considered Liverpool's top priority to tie down.
"The bare minimum for me really is to get two of these signed down, and one of those has to absolutely be Trent Alexander-Arnold," Liverpool expert David Lynch told Sports Mole.
"I've always said I think Trent is the absolute priority here. I think Liverpool would like to give themselves a little bit of space with Van Dijk and Salah because, age-wise, those are trickier deals to do in terms of what they will demand length of contract-wise, the wages that Salah is on - that £350k a week is an awful lot - so that adds to how difficult that decision is.
"But the fact is with Trent, it's a no brainer. This is a guy who's going to captain the club, or they would hope so. A local lad, the best in the world in his position or, depending on whether you rate him or not, he's surely top five at least. It's absolutely that one has to get done.
"I think two out of the three is an absolute minimum, and then you see what you can do in terms of can you find the compromise.
"So, I just think the Trent and the Van Dijk ones are easier to do. Obviously the ideal situation is to sign up all three; I see that as tricky, but I do think that two of the three is the minimum they should be aiming for."
Alexander-Arnold only turned 26 earlier this month and already has 319 Liverpool appearances to his name - Salah is the only one of the current crop who boasts more.
The club's all-time appearance record might realistically be out of reach - Ian Callaghan holds that with a whopping 841 - but if Alexander-Arnold stays at the club, largely injury-free, for his entire career then he could in theory join a couple of other local legends, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, as the only other players to have turned out for Liverpool more than 700 times.
The team would need to continue challenging for trophies in order to fend off inevitable interest during that time, but having seen Alexander-Arnold come through the academy and graduate into a generational talent in his position, they have a unique advantage in any decision the player might make about whether to leave or stay.
While he has been criticised for some of his defensive work, the 26-year-old has also helped revolutionise his position, which for all of their exploits and accolades, is something neither Salah or Van Dijk can claim to the same extent.
At 26, there is every possibility that we have not even seen the best of Alexander-Arnold yet either, and it would be gut-wrenching for Liverpool to see those prime years come at another club having nurtured and developed him into one of the world's most creative players.
© Imago
CONS
While it is the money and potentially an easy end to their careers which might hold the most allure for Salah and Van Dijk's possible exit routes, for Alexander-Arnold it is the prospect of an even greater football project.
Links to Real Madrid have grown even stronger in recent days, expedited by a serious injury for Dani Carvajal, and even for a Liverpool fan, the appeal of playing for Real Madrid must be massive.
Seemingly perpetual champions of Europe, Alexander-Arnold's hopes of silverware would be boosted by a move to Madrid, while he would also be part of a squad which looks set to be one of the most exciting in world football for years to come, alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Endrick and his best friend from international duty Jude Bellingham.
Bellingham's own rise to superstardom since joining Los Blancos offers Alexander-Arnold an immediately relatable example of what he could also achieve in the Spanish capital, and even without that, a move to Real Madrid would instantly raise his profile further anyway.
Trent possibly has the best reason to want to leave Anfield this summer, then, and concern over his future grew earlier this season when he appeared unhappy with manager Arne Slot after being brought off in each of the first three games of the new campaign.
That mini-spat now seems to be resolved - if it ever needed resolving - and the player has since talked up his relationship with the new boss, although he was visibly one of those most upset when Klopp bid farewell to the club at the end of last season.
It was also notable that Conor Bradley replaced Alexander-Arnold each time he was subbed off in those early weeks of the season, perhaps hinting at a succession plan in place should the 26-year-old opt not to renew his contract.
Bradley is still some way short of Alexander-Arnold's quality, but he showed enough last season to be heralded by some as an heir apparent, so Trent is possibly the player who could be most seamlessly replaced without Liverpool dipping into the transfer market.
Of the three potential departees, Alexander-Arnold is undoubtedly the player who has received the most criticism too, particularly when it comes to his defensive capabilities.
On the attacking front there is little argument that he is one of the best in the world in his position, but defensively he has been caught lacking at times - although that element of his game has shown signs of improvement lately.
The England international is therefore probably the most divisive of the three players in question, although most Liverpool fans are of the belief that his creative output and other positives far outweigh any negative by-products of his marauding style.
Barney Corkhill
