Andy Robertson makes Liverpool dressing room vow contracts uncertainty

Andy Robertson has insisted that the uncertainty regarding Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk’s futures is not a distraction for the Liverpool dressing room. The trio are all out of contract at the end of the season and at the heart of ongoing speculation as a result.

Alexander-Arnold is set to be on the bench against Real Madrid after overcoming a hamstring injury. The Reds vice-captain has regularly been linked with a move to the La Liga giants at the end of his contract.

And speaking ahead of the clash with Carlo Ancelotti’s side, Robertson backed the Reds right-back to keep getting better regardless of who he is playing his football for next season.

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“Trent is one of the closest friends I’ve got in the changing room,” said the Liverpool left-back. “We kind of went on the journey together.

“He’s obviously a fantastic footballer and a fantastic person. I think the quality speaks for itself. At the top level, one of if not the best right-backs in the world.

“I think he shows that year on year. Probably people forget he’s still fairly young. He’s probably getting a wee bit older now but he’s still young enough to get even better.

“I think that is the main thing for him. He’s got a will to succeed, a will to learn. And I think you’ve seen that this season as well.

“He’s a pleasure to play with. We’ve kind of grown together within the full-back role and I’ve enjoyed doing that with him.”

Meanwhile, Salah made headlines after scoring a match-winning brace against Southampton on Sunday, admitting to reporters in the mixed zone that the club had yet to present him with a formal contract offer.

The Egyptian has come into criticism in some quarters for going public with his disappointment regarding his contract situation. But Roberson was adamant that Salah remains the ultimate professional as he paid tribute to the mentality of all three of Liverpool’s out-of-contract trio.

“Honestly, for us as players, it’s nothing we can really get involved in,” he said. “All I can say is you look at Mo today, look at Mo yesterday, he’s the ultimate professional.

“In fairness, it goes for all three of them. Mo, Virgil (van Dijk) and Trent are all in similar positions. Every one of them is so focused on the next game and training and preparing properly.

“They’ve been leaders this year, that’s the way they’ve done it. And I think for us within the changing room, I think if they can do that, then we kind of do that.

“We don’t get distracted by anything else. They’re not getting distracted and I think we’ll all just excited for the game tomorrow night.”

Robertson continued: “He (Salah) didn’t look sad to me (in training). Mo comes into training every single day with a smile on his face. He is in the gym working as hard as ever, he is on the training pitch working as hard as ever.

“In terms of that, he’s one of the happiest people in the training ground, that’s for sure. He enjoys every moment of being in there and you can tell.

“If you can find me a picture from training today where he looked sad, then fair enough. But I think he looks happy at all times.

“And I think he’s such a focused individual that he’ll be focused, he’ll be in his house now probably focused on tomorrow night.

“That’s the main thing, that’s what all good players do, that’s what all the best in the world do and Mo certainly falls into that category.”

Meanwhile, Robertson told TNT Sports that he would intervene if he there was ever any inkling of Salah being distracted about his future, conceding all players will leave Liverpool eventually.

"If it affected Mo on the pitch, then maybe we’d have to step in and go, ‘Come on Mo’. " he said. "But he’s so focused on the next game and tomorrow night [against Real Madrid], so are the other two lads, and real credit goes to them, they’re the ultimate professionals.

"As long as he keeps producing on the pitch, then I’ll be more than happy. The more goals he scores, the more assists he makes, the more noise will go on around him.

"I love him as a player, I love him as a person," Robertson said. "We all know we’re going to leave the club at one point, but whenever that will be, that will be.

"Mo is completely focused on football and that’s the main thing and that’s credit to Mo. He blocks it out and so do we, that’s the key thing for our changing room."