An update on Mohamed Salah's contract situation and a full injury roundup

After a rollercoaster week which has seen highs like the Reds dominating their longtime rivals Manchester City in a 2-0 win and lows such as surrendering a late equalizer to Newcastle, let’s take a look at some news off the pitch ahead of Saturday’s massive Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.

Contracts: Salah status still in question, offer made to Virgil

If Fenway Sports Group needed any more motivation to re-sign Mo Salah, the Egyptian King yet again bagged an assist and two goals in Liverpool’s draw against Newcastle, and, frankly, was their only forward player that showed any sort of class and creativity at St. James’ Park.

Salah has now surpassed Premier League legend Wayne Rooney (36) for the most career games with at least one goal and one assist (37), a truly remarkable achievement for a truly remarkable player.

What’s more is that Salah now has 21 goal contributions in the Premier League this season and Liverpool have 29 league goals as a team; this means he’s been involved directly in roughly 72% of all league goals the Reds have scored. Truly mental stuff.

It seems as though milestones and positive stats follow Salah with every game that he plays, and as I have said before, FSG would be sorely remiss to not offer their No. 11 a new contract to keep him around for as long as they can.

While most of the disagreements between Salah’s team and FSG have likely been rooted in the length of a potential agreement, Liverpool may finally be preparing a contract for the star winger, per David Ornstein.

Fellow Liverpool reporter Simon Hughes shared just Wednesday that Salah may be willing to accept a one-year deal rather than something more long term; this appears to be to pleasing to FSG, as Orenstein stated “I would expect, I do expect Salah to receive an offer very soon. Why he hasn’t so far…is something that maybe only Liverpool can explain.”

Part of the Salah debacle is that other star players for the club are also due for new deals, including centre-back Virgil van Dijk, who Ornstein confidently reports has been offered a new contract.

The specifics were not revealed, but as Orenstein shared in The Athletic, Liverpool have made a firm contract proposal to their 33 year-old captain.

Like Salah, van Dijk has not lost a step in anchoring Liverpool’s back lines this season, as his defense has conceded the fewest goals in both England (11) and Europe second-fewest in Europe (1). 

Both of these players are proving to be more and more indispensable as the year goes on, and FSG would do well to make sure that both of these players are geared to return for at least one more season.

Transfer buzz: Contingency plans for Trent departure, should Slot search for a #9?

As mentioned above, yet another Liverpool star is in line for a new contract with the club-- LFC Academy graduate and re-definer of the right back position, Trent-Alexander Arnold.

TAA, who has just become the first-ever Premier League defender to hit 60 career assists, is likewise in the midst of murky contract talks, but with pressure mounting from fans to keep Salah and van Dijk around, Alexander-Arnold could be the odd man out.

After all, it has been no secret in world football that Real Madrid have had their eye on the 26 year-old for some time now, and their serial dominance over the Champions League competition could very well be enticing to the Englishman.

So, what are Liverpool to do if they indeed re-sign Salah and van Dijk which means Trent walks?

Luckily, while he is injured now, the club has the luxury of knowing they have the young Conor Bradley in their back pocket, who put in a masterful performance on the European stage against Real Madrid themselves.

But FSG would be foolish to not bring another right back in with the transfer fee they’d collect if they were to sell Alexander-Arnold, and a perfect target could be Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong.

At only 23 years of age, Frimpong was instrumental in Leverkusen’s unbeaten Bundesliga campaign and run to the Europa League Final, scoring 14 goals and providing 12 assists in all competitions last season, playing a hybrid right wing-back position reminiscent of Trent’s. 

It also can’t do anything but help that the Leverkusen man is Dutch, as Arne Slot has elevated the game of his compatriot Ryan Gravenberch to another level this season.

It’s been well-documented that Liverpool have kept tabs on Frimpong, and were Trent to walk away, I’d like to see them pull the trigger.

Speaking of Slot, there has been a growing consortium of Reds, including club icon Jamie Carragher, who believe the Liverpool boss should move on from Darwin Núñez and bring in a new striker–should they?

At this point, everyone that has watched Liverpool enough knows what to expect of Núñez when he’s on the pitch–an unquestioned passion and work rate, but an inconsistent ability to finish chances.

Last season, Nunez hit the woodwork more times (9) than any other player in the Premier League, a stat which is the epitome of a player who consistently finds themselves in good areas of the field, but struggles to turn the ball home.

So far under Slot, Núñez has registered two goals and an assist in the Premier League; fair numbers, but not anything that is going to truly catch your eye.

It’s absolutely worth noting that the Uruguayan is still only 25 years old and could finally discover a ruthless goal-scoring ability that all Reds have been hoping to see for some time, but in a season which feels that a title truly could be attainable, Liverpool could make a bid for a certain Swede to help the cause.

It would no doubt be an ambitious move, but what if the club signed Newcastle’s Alexander Isak?

The Geordie striker has always been a thorn in Liverpool’s side, bringing his involvements up to three goals and an assist in five career appearances against the Reds, including a wonder strike in their Wednesday draw.

In that game, Isak was the most lethal for Newcastle on the counterattack, which is exactly the type of player that could thrive playing next to Mohamed Salah and under Slot’s system.

With five goals and three assists in a tepid Newcastle team this season, if Liverpool were to make a big splash and sign a striker who has shown consistency in front of goal, it could very well be a vital move in their title charge.

Injury updates: When are Alisson and Jota due back? Are Ibou and Bradley injuries severe?

While Núñez's inability to regularly score this season has raised questions of whether the club should find an outsider to replace him or not, the clinical touch of Diogo Jota is sorely missed.

Liverpool’s underrated forward, who is one of their most reliable players in opponents’ final thirds, picked up a chest injury during the Reds’ clash against Chelsea on October 20; he hasn’t seen the pitch since.

Despite his extended absence, Jota still has the same number of league goals (and one more assist) as Núñez, all while having four less appearances than the Uruguayan.

All Slot could offer reporters was that he was “not there yet” in terms of offering a timetable on Jota’s return.

Caoimhín Kelleher has undoubtedly stood on his head as Alisson’s replacement, saving multiple penalties and keeping clean sheets against some of the most talented clubs in the world.

He deserves all the praise he has been given and more, but a lack of sustained experience as a starter finally revealed itself against Newcastle.

Kelleher showed indecisiveness after not charging for a swinging ball from a set piece late in the game, leading to Fabian Schär’s heartbreaking equalizer.

Kelleher is far from the only reason why Liverpool didn’t pick up all three points at St. James’; however, that moment can’t help but get some Reds wondering when the best goalkeeper in the world, Alisson Becker, is set to return.

Liverpool’s top choice goalie was hurt against Crystal Palace on October 5 with a hamstring injury and has not seen any action since.

Although Jota’s return date is still a mystery, the club themselves provided an encouraging update on the Brazilian, sharing that Alisson could very likely be back before the end of December.

Fans should be quick to forgive Kelleher’s error on Wednesday, as even if Alisson is not at 100% health going into 2025, Slot could very well benefit from Kelleher and Alisson splitting games to ease the Brazilian back into the swing of things.

As for Bradley and Ibrahima Konaté, they cannot return soon enough, as I frankly thought that Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez were two of the worst players on the pitch against Newcastle.

The pair were injured late against Real Madrid, and both Bradley, and in particular Konaté, have looked outstanding this season; they will certainly be needed in the hunt for trophies this season.

Specific target return dates for the back-line pairing are not available yet, but it seems like they will both require a few more weeks in recovery.