Arne Slot has joked that Liverpool should only extend the contracts of Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah by a single year to ensure the players maintain their outstanding performance levels.

The trio’s deals are set to expire at the end of the season and could therefore leave for free. All three are able to negotiate with foreign sides at this stage, with Alexander-Arnold strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid. Van Dijk and Salah have also reportedly gained interest from Saudi Arabia.

Despit e all the speculation, the Liverpool stars’ performance levels have not dropped. With Salah, in particular, it has been suggested that the motivation to secure a lucrative new deal might even fueling his excellent form.

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With that in mind, Slot was asked in a recent interview with Amazon Prime Video whether the contract talk was having any negative impact on his players.

“If I look at the performances of the players, you have to say that it is the opposite,” he replied. “I think Virgil, Mo and Trent have always reached a certain standard or above, so you can look at it in a way, if we are able to extend them, maybe we should only do it for one year. So we have the same first half of the season next year again.”

Slot was speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Lille on Tuesday night, where the Reds need a point to secure a top-eight finish and a place in the knockout stages of the competition. Liverpool is also hoping to secure top spot in the 36-team table which should provide an easier last-16 opponent.

“The most important thing every time we go out there, especially in front of our own fans, [is] we want to win a game,” Slot said ahead of the game. “With this new set-up, you think that ending up No.1 is the best position to end up with.

“I’m not looking at the league table in a way of ‘If we are No.1 we probably have the easiest team to face’ because that is impossible to say because of this weird format; ‘weird’ I don’t mean in a negative way, but this strange format we are having now.”