Arne Slot addresses Real Madrid interest in Trent Alexander-Arnold and the Liverpool contract situations of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah
Arne Slot says he is unconcerned with speculation linking Trent Alexander-Arnold with a free transfer to Real Madrid next summer and revealed it “would be weird” if he was not involved over contract discussions for the Liverpool vice captain.
Alexander-Arnold is one of three major stars at Anfield, alongside Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who can hold talks with clubs outside of England about a pre-contract agreement from January 1 and reported interest from Champions League holders Madrid has ramped up in recent weeks.
During the international break, influential Spanish publication Marca carried a story about los Blancos making a concerted effort to move for Alexander-Arnold when they can legally speak to the England international in New Year and the Reds defender is also seeing his future become a discussion point on a daily basis in English football media.
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Slot said such chatter does not filter down to the dressing room and expects to be kept in the loop over the club’s attempts to tie down Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk to new deals at Anfield.
Despite repeatedly side-stepping the opportunity to give updates on the situation of the three players in question by claiming it is not his domain as head coach, Slot insists he will be involved in any negotiations alongside sporting director Richard Hughes and believes the maturity of Alexander-Arnold, as the 26-year-old vice-captain of the club, makes it easier for him to block out the links to Santiago Bernabeu.
“I think you underestimate our players,” Slot said. “These players are used to being linked with all the top clubs on a daily basis, whether they have contracts or not.
“If you think they’re disturbed by these interests, then I think you don’t do justice to how strong they are mentally and what they are used to.
“This is part of our job. I was at Feyenoord last year and they linked me with many clubs and before that and before that. This is part of this world we are living in.
“You just focus on what you have to do. Maybe if you’re 17 or 18 years of age, that could be difficult for you. But Trent has won the league, has won the Champions League, Virgil and Mo are the same.
“I don’t think that is a problem for them to perform. That’s also what we see at the moment because they’re playing really well, put it that way.
“That’s difficult for me to judge. If you call me manager or head coach that’s different from how it was. I’ve always been a head coach and I’ve always been involved in contract situations like ‘who do you want to extend?’
“I’m not the one that is sitting in front of the agents talking about money. I don’t think Jurgen Klopp did this [at Liverpool]? I think there is no difference.
“I don’t know because I don’t know how it worked. I know that we spoke quite some time about [the job title] ‘manager’ or ‘head coach’. I said: ‘We’ve spoken about it a bit now but for me it is the same’.
Slot added: “It would be really weird [if I was not involved]. There’s no sporting director in the world, even if you have legally no input, that he would bring a player in or extend a player that you don’t want.
“You always talk about these things. The good thing about being a head coach is that you can always say if these things come up: ‘Go to the sporting director!’
“No, for me [the contract situation] is not difficult [to deal with] because I am always focused on the short-term so only focused on Chelsea and the good thing is all these three players are available to me – although let’s wait [until after training on Friday].
“So, no, the only thing is every time it is the same question the good thing is I can give the same answer! For me it is not something I am wondering about. If after the last game of this season is played then it might bother me to think ‘are they here or not?’
“But my main focus is now the short-term and I think in football it is mainly about the short-term – especially if you are a manager. We are planning the long-term as well but that’s more for me to help Richard with the long-term. My main focus is the short-term.”