Just a matter of days remain in 2024 and from January 1 three of Liverpool's biggest stars will be free to sign pre-contract agreements with clubs outside of England.

Arne Slot's side are flying high at the top of the Premier League, as well as the Champions League, but this season continues to be overshadowed by the futures of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. All three are out of contract at the end of the season and are yet to commit their futures to the club.

Salah has been Liverpool's most important attacking outlet since his arrival from Roma in 2017. Van Dijk is club captain and is still regarded as one of the best central defenders in world football, despite being 33, while academy graduate Alexander-Arnold is one of the best in his position.

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As speculation surrounding their futures heats up, the ECHO have rounded up the latest on all three contracts.

Mohamed Salah

Salah has arguably been the most vocal about his contract situation as he sought out the written media after Liverpool's league win over Southampton back in November. He confirmed, at that stage, no formal offer had been presented to him, but things have seemingly progressed in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, The Athletic reported that the club have now made an opening contract offer to the Egyptian. The article did emphasise an agreement is yet to be reached, but there is a growing belief at Anfield that he will stay beyond this season.

There has been little movement since, although that can be expected given the complexity of such negotiations. A more recent piece in The Telegraph suggests, despite January 1 looming large, the Anfield hierarchy are relaxed about the situation given Salah's preference to continue at Liverpool.

“It’s clear that from 1 January, maybe for you guys, things change a lot but they are in constant talks with the club and let’s wait and see what happens,” Slot said this week. “As long as they keep performing like this, the head coach is happy."

Virgil van Dijk

As mentioned in The Athletic's piece earlier this month, Virgil van Dijk has also received a contract proposal from the club. Reports, however, suggest a breakthrough is yet to be found.

The Liverpool captain was asked about his future ahead of the Reds' Boxing Day clash against Leicester City, in which he backed himself to keep playing at the highest level. "Yeah, I could play definitely in my opinion as well for another three or four years at least on the highest level," he told Amazon Prime. "So, we’ll see what the future brings."

Van Dijk remains a crucial figure at the club as captain, a role he assumed following the departure of Jordan Henderson in the summer of 2023. This season, he has started 23 games for the Reds across all competitions and continues to operate at a world class level.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Alexander-Arnold is arguably the most complicated, and the most worrying, of the three deals given the very real threat of Real Madrid. As previously reported by The Athletic, the right back has received a formal offer from the club, but an agreement is yet to be reached.

Reports this week have been contradicting, to say the least. As January 1 rapidly approaches, the Spanish media have run with the story that Alexander-Arnold has already agreed to join the La Liga giants and it is just a formality at this stage.

AS are the latest Spanish outlet to report on the matter, claiming Alexander-Arnold already has one foot in Madrid. It has been claimed they are cautiously confident a deal will be signed imminently and the player has no doubt over where his future lies.

However, in England, the story is quite different. The Telegraph reported this week that the stated preference of all three players is to continue at Anfield, which includes Alexander-Arnold. The ECHO also reported on Saturday that, despite the reports in Spain, the player has not communicated to Liverpool that he wishes to sign for Real Madrid.