Arne Slot has refused to guarantee Trent Alexander-Arnold will remain a Liverpool player this month but backed the Anfield crowd to rally behind the Real Madrid-linked defender when the Premier League leaders host Manchester United on Sunday. And the Reds boss has claimed the ongoing speculation over Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk and their respective contract issues can even be helpful to keep his squad grounded.

After months of speculation naming Alexander-Arnold in connection with a move to Real Madrid, the Reds turned down an approach for the right-back on New Year's Eve from the La Liga giants and have no intention of entering into dialogue over a cut-price switch to the Spanish capital during the winter transfer window.

Alexander-Arnold, though, is a free agent at the end of the campaign, which means he is currently able to talk to clubs outside of England about a pre-contract agreement. Last week, the England international appeared on the front page of Madrid-based publication Marca with the claim that he had already given his notice at Anfield.

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Those reports have since been rubbished on Merseyside and it was reported this week that los Blancos are prepared to bid around £20m for Alexander-Arnold this month, despite the prospect of being able to snare him on a free transfer for the summer. Liverpool, though, remain hopeful of reaching an agreement with the 26-year-old to tie him down for the coming years.

The dismissal of the contact from the current Champions League holders is unlikely to signal the end of the matter this month and Slot admitted he was unable to confidently declare that the vice-captain would be around to help out the title charge from February onwards.

"I am convinced that Trent is playing for us on Sunday and I think it is so difficult in football to talk about what happens in a month or in six months," Slot said. "You can also ask me the question: ‘Are you convinced that Virgil (van Dijk) and Mo (Salah) are here next season?’

"So in football, it's such a difficult question to answer because there is hardly any long term in football, especially not for a manager. So your only focus is on the short term. The only thing I do know is that he is fully focused and ready to play for us on Sunday and as long as he is here.

"I don't think I need to tell our fans how to react because they have always been so supportive and have been supporting their team and their players for so, so many years. So I don't think they need me to tell them how to react and I fully trust them that they will react in the right manner because we've been constantly together in the half-year that I have been here.

"And I think that is something that stands out here that, for so many years, the team and the fans have been together. That has created so many special games and so many special things for this club that they don't need me to tell them how they should react.

"Does constant speculation overshadow the performances on the pitch? No, maybe it's even helpful now you ask me. Because if it is only about how great we are doing then maybe every week I have to have a meeting telling the players it is not perfect yet and we have to do better and now maybe it is also about different things [in the press] and not everyone is telling them how great they are, so sometimes that can help as well.

"But for me it doesn't distract at all, I think we get enough credit for the way we play and here in the building we don't even talk about this [speculation]. Maybe in the building we do, but me with the players, we don't talk about these situations.

"It doesn't distract at all, it is part of the business we're in and it happens at every club at this moment. In the month of January it happens at every club in the world, people talk about: 'Will he come in? Will he go away?'

"This is part of the business we're in. It doesn't distract me at all and I don't think for the players either. I don’t think the players I have worked that was ever a Barcelona or a Real Madrid or teams like that interested in them but for the clubs that worked there were players that were in the interest of clubs that were bigger than Feyenoord now – that is not to say that Real Madrid is bigger than Liverpool, let that be clear.

"So it is a normal situation for a manager that there is interest in your players. That is an important sentence, interest in your players. So that you know you can handle the situations with interest in your players but that is not only for Trent, it is for more players.

"In the beginning of the season there was also interest in one or two players from us, maybe to go on a loan or something like that so you talk to your players about that and you leave it mostly, mostly to Richard (Hughes, sporting director) and the agent and my main relationship with the player is what I expect from him on the pitch and it is where most of the conversations go about."