Arne Slot admits the contract situations of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold will have a major influence on what Liverpool can and will do in the summer transfer window. But the Reds boss laughed off suggestions a lack of recent activity means the club are primed for a major period of recruitment later this year.

Liverpool have signed just one player since the summer transfer window closed in August 2023, with Federico Chiesa - who joined in a £12m deal from Juventus last year - the sole arrival during the two periods of player trading that have been available for Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes.

The Reds have the opportunity to extend their Premier League advantage to nine points when they play their game-in-hand at Everton next week, and having just topped the inaugural 36-team Champions League group stage last week, Slot says his squad is not in need of major surgery.

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The head coach, though, did concede that conversations are ongoing in the background to make sure the team is as strong as possible for next season but believes the overall quality available to him at Anfield means sourcing additions at the right level is tougher than at most other clubs.

And the issues around Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk, who have all been integral towards a push for major honours this term, will be a factor in how the recruitment department work in the upcoming window, Slot says.

"It would be a bit weird if I said I was so happy with this team in the summer window and this winter window that now in the next window we bring 15 new players in," Slot joked. "That would be [weird]. But like I said you always have to be prepared for all the new things coming up.

"Will the players that don't play a big part at the moment, will they be able to do this another year? Will they fight for their place or will they [want to] go somewhere else? So we have to be prepared for the next window and what we can do.

"Of course we have some contractual situations that you don't probably don't know about! (laughs) But Trent, Mo and Virgil haven't extended yet. So we are aware of the fact that we have to be sharp and ready for things that can happen.

"I think Richard said this already and maybe I said it once or twice as well that with the 'new regime' coming in, with Richard, me and some others, the first thing we wanted to do was see what we had over here.

"What could we do with them? Ryan Gravenberch is a great example of that, he quickly became the No.6 just by working with players and every single day or a lot of days, we constantly adjust asking: where are we? What quality do we have? Can we add something? Yes or no.

"And then there is the question: is that quality available? Only so many players are good enough to play for this team. That is also not so easy. If you are at Feyenoord, there are more players available than if you are at Liverpool for the right price.

"At the moment, we are very happy with what we have. But in football, things can change as well. If in the upcoming three months, a certain player who has done so well starts to play poorly, then you might have to adjust."

Asked specifically if the contracts of three of his most high-profile players makes planning more tricky, Slot added: "At the moment I'm looking at Tottenham and Plymouth.

"And there are a lot of challenges coming up for us in the upcoming three months, but you can be quite sure that we have so many quality people at this club that are looking not only at the short term - my life is mainly short-term - but we also have people that look at the longer term as well."