Liverpool fans were treated to wonderful news on Wednesday evening when Paul Joyce broke the news that Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk are close to agreeing contract extensions at Anfield.
As subsequently reported by David Ornstein, the long-serving duo are expected to sign two-year deals which’d keep them on Merseyside until 2027, by which stage the Egyptian will have just turned 35 and the current Reds captain will be about to celebrate his 36th birthday.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, the other major first-team name whose contract had been inching towards its expiry, looks as though he’ll join Real Madrid on a free transfer in a few weeks’ time, but the gut-punch over that prospective exit could now be offset by the men in shirt numbers 11 and 4 being on the verge of extending their stays.
None of those have been made official just yet, but assuming there aren’t any more late twists, this is when every current Liverpool first-team player will reach the end of their contracts, as per Transfermarkt:
2025: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harvey Davies, Vitezslav Jaros
Trent isn’t the only Reds player who seems likely to depart as a free agent this summer. Backup goalkeepers Davies and Jaros are also approaching the expiry of their respective contracts, and with neither getting any real look-in under Arne Slot, they could seek a new challenge from the start of next season.
2026: Caoimhin Kelleher, Ibrahima Konate, Tyler Morton*, Andy Robertson
Even when Salah and Van Dijk offiically put pen to paper on new contracts, Richard Hughes won’t have time to relax, as there are four other first-team players whose deals expire next summer.
With Giorgi Mamardashvili coming to Anfield this year, the likelihood is that Liverpool will cash in on Kelleher, whose stock is high and should be able to command a handsome transfer fee.
The club may also have a decision to make with Morton, whose talent isn’t in doubt but who hasn’t been able to establish himself with the Reds in the same way that Curtis Jones has. He’ll be 23 in October, so a summer sale could be possible if a decent offer is submitted from elsewhere.
Konate and Robertson are both regular starters, albeit at different stages of their careers. Talks have been ongoing over a potential new deal for the Frenchman, but it remains to be seen whether the Scottish left-back will stay on and complete a decade on Merseyside.
*Morton’s contract is due to expire in 2026, as per Football Insider
2027: Alisson Becker, Conor Bradley, Luis Diaz, Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Mo Salah, Kostas Tsimikas, Virgil van Dijk
Oh wow – the 2026/27 season could be a manic one for Hughes if all of the above are still at Liverpool!
Alisson, Salah and Van Dijk will all be in their mid-30s by then, and it’s hard to see them being handed lucrative new deals at that stage. Endo is on more modest wages but will also be into the winter of his career by that point.
Gomez and Tsimikas will also be into their 30s by June 2027, and with neither a regular starter under Slot, there’s a plausible chance that the club could accept transfer offers for the defensive duo either this summer or next. Diaz will be 30 as well, but he might be offered a new deal if he’s still at the club by then, having been afforded plenty of minutes by the head coach this term.
Of those with just over two years left in their current deals, we predict that Bradley and Jones are the likeliest to pen long-term extensions – Elliott might do the same but could also be seeking more regular game-time elsewhere if he hasn’t carved out a fixed starting berth at Liverpool.
2028: Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai
Let’s look firstly at the ages of these six players at the end of their current contracts – Chiesa (30), Gakpo (29), Gravenberch (26), Mac Allister (29), Nunez (29), Szoboszlai (27).
The Uruguayan has been earmarked to leave Liverpool this summer, while the Italian isn’t likely to stick around for another three years if he continues to struggle for game-time, so we imagine that those two won’t see out their existing deals.
The other four could well be leaders in the squad by then, although a look ahead to 2028 requires some speculative crystal ball gazing. The midfield trio in particular are established starters now – will that still be the case in three years’ time?
If they and Gakpo are all still at Anfield and starting regularly, we’d like to think that they’d each be offered new deals in the medium-term future.
2029: Jarell Quansah
The defender signed a long-term contract extension six months ago which ties him down for four more years, by which time he’ll be 26 and ideally in the prime of his career.
Four years is an eternity in football, so trying to accurately predict what lies in store for Quansah between now and 2029 would require plenty of guesswork.
If he’s still a Liverpool player by then and has graduated into a regular first-team starter, we’d imagine that another long-term deal would be in the offing.
