Liverpool would not be severely impacted financially if Trent Alexander-Arnold were to leave Anfield on a free transfer at the end of the season, according to a football finance expert. The Reds' academy graduate is one-third of the key players in the first-team squad whose contracts expire at the end of the season.

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk also have uncertain futures, having yet to sign new deals at Anfield. All three players are free to sign pre-contract agreements outside of England, but at the moment, none have chosen to do so.

On New Year's Eve, Real Madrid launched a speculative bid to sign Alexander-Arnold in the January transfer window, but this was rejected. The ECHO understands that La Liga's giant will not be coming back to bid again for the full-back in this window.

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However, they remain favourites to sign the defender on a free contract at the end of the season, which would see Liverpool miss out on a potential Financial Fair Play (FFP) boosting, 'pure profit' sale. Speaking exclusively to the ECHO, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University and Bet Ideas ambassador Dr Dan Plumley insists that missing out on a transfer fee will not be damaging the Reds' position with the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

"If you are looking at Alexander-Arnold, if you were to sell him, it would be for a significant fee because he is one of the best players in that position in the world and he has still got longevity in his career," he explained. "So selling him would have been a preferred position for Liverpool.

"However, if you look at their overall finances, they are very good against PSR, they have made very small losses - nowhere near the losses that some of the other clubs have made. We are seeing record levels of turnover and we know the multi-club, multi-sport model that their owners have got has left their finances in very good shape.

"There is no real need for Liverpool to sell but mitigating factors like; wanting to sell him, if he wants to move, need to be considered, but whichever way that falls, it would not hurt Liverpool’s finances too much (to lose him for free). In modern football, you are looking to squeeze as much as you can out of every deal and that is just the reality of the market."