Eras are never tied as neatly as those with an eye on history books would like. Even a storybook ending like the one Michael Jordan and a documentary production team wrote in The Last Dance has to overlook those two extra years with the Washington Wizards.
For a time in early 2024, one could convince oneself that Liverpool were also approaching their natural end point. Jurgen Klopp went and did it with style. His team were at the top of the Premier League, in a Europa League that brought them to their adoring masses in Dublin, a meeting with the heir apparent in Xabi Alonso, leading an unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, seemingly inevitable.
But football rarely lets itself get involved in such simple stories. Liverpool stumbled down the stretch, fell out of the title race and lost in the Europa League quarterfinals to eventual winners Atalanta. Xabi Alonso opted to stay in Germany, leaving Arne Slot as Klopp’s successor. The end of an era began to look more like any other Liverpool year.
Now, however, as Liverpool face the biggest week of their season, with games at Anfield against Real Madrid (you can only watch the action on Paramount+) and Manchester City just around the corner, another question arises.
What if it is this season that closes the book on Liverpool’s latest era?
Doesn’t this season feel like the natural end for this great Liverpool team? After all, its end could lead to the departure of up to three times as many decisive figures as Klopp: Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah. All three expire at the end of the season. It’s hard to imagine Liverpool would have enjoyed the success they did under Klopp without even one of them.
In the meantime, it’s entirely possible they could do something special this season. They are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table and are the last team with a 100 per cent record in the Champions League. Liverpool fans have surely grown tired of hearing that every week is when Slot’s skills are truly put to the test. Frankly, they have passed enough tests from Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
Now they face a different opportunity. Beating Real Madrid, Manchester City and Liverpool has as compelling arguments as any to be the best team in Europe. Keep it up and, well, talk about some Liverpool legends potentially making it to the top.
Could winning keep Alexander-Arnold in England?
Of the triumvirate, perhaps the one with the most doubts and whose departure would be felt most deeply on an emotional level is Alexander-Arnold. When he addresses the imminent expiration of his contract he talks about “the most important thing” as “the trophies.”
“I’m a very motivated player to win things and be elite,” he told reporters in September. Rather it makes you wonder why his pen isn’t already on the dotted line.
Slot’s arrival has not diminished Liverpool’s ability to compete for trophies. If anything, this season looks set to end with at least the Premier League crown. Most prediction models have odds of more than 50 percent, as do bookmakers. They beat Manchester City on Sunday (whether he will be fit for that game or the previous encounter with Madrid remains to be seen) and it would be premature for Alexander-Arnold to start reorganizing his trophy cabinet.
The 26-year-old could keep his word and Liverpool could one day wake up to the news that their local superstar has committed the rest of his best years to Anfield. “I have been at the club for 20 years now,” he said in his last public statement about his future, “I have signed four or five contract extensions and none of them have been made public. This one won’t be either.” “.
Or will Real Madrid tempt Liverpool’s right back?
It could surprise many in the world of football. That, however, is the point. It would now be a surprise if Alexander-Arnold started the 2025-26 season in Liverpool red instead of Real Madrid white. Of course, there is the appeal of playing with his close friend Jude Bellingham, but the appeal would be no less profound if he were the only Englishman. If he wins the Premier League this season, Alexander-Arnold might reasonably wonder what worlds there are left to conquer with his boyhood club. He has done more than his share: returning the English Championship to Anfield, winning a sixth European Cup and shattering expectations about what a player can contribute to an attack from the side.
A player of Alexander-Arnold’s excellence will want more. Why shouldn’t a player of his quality aspire to not only win different team awards but also the highest individual honours? No elite footballer will need to know which club offers its players the best chance of competing for the Ballon d’Or.
How long will the Van Dijk and Salah primes last?
Alexander-Arnold has his best years ahead of him. The other two? Van Dijk seems to play like a man who has realized that his physical abilities are fading. It’s all the more impressive for that. The 33-year-old can no longer simply apply afterburners to catch a striker who might be fleeing. Read the situation so that the pass to the opponent never reaches its target. Van Dijk is averaging half as many tackles as last season and more than 50 percent more interceptions.
Salah summed up Van Dijk perfectly in what were rather understated comments than those of their own future at St. Mary’s on Sunday night. The two, he promised, “will play at the highest level for as long as possible.” Watch him in action and he’s as imperious as ever. Age will slow you down, but it will only increase your understanding of the game. It is no surprise that Liverpool appear to be the furthest forward in securing Van Dijk’s services long-term, with it confirmed last month that talks had begun between the club and his representatives.
With Salah there have been no such public advances, although by stating “I have not yet received any offer to remain at the club” the Egyptian did leave the door open to the possibility that his agent Ramy Abbas Issa has been in contact with Liverpool . Salah has not been afraid to negotiate openly before and hints of possible moves to Spain in the past have been followed by new terms agreed at Anfield. The 32-year-old is not a regular in the mixed zone by any means, surely he will have understood the impact of saying he was “probably more out than in”.
Salah will know he will have no shortage of takers when he is free to negotiate terms with clubs outside England from January 1. CBS Sports understands that PIF, owner of four major Saudi Pro League clubs, has reaffirmed its interest in the Egypt international. . If he moved to Saudi Arabia, he would be one of the highest-paid players in the league. However, it has been suggested that he is reluctant to leave the top level of club football while still feeling he can excel as he has this season.
Is Salah’s production about to decline with age?
Everything indicates that Liverpool want to keep their star up front. Obviously he wants to stay too. But any new deal would have to go for his future production, not just his current form. For now he is playing like a superstar earning £350,000 a week, ten goals and six assists in 12 Premier League games. Will this production continue until 2026? He’s scoring and assisting more often than he has in years, but he changes things up under the hood and key attacking metrics (expected goals (xG), expected assists (xA), chances created, shots taken) decline even as he’s improving. More touches in the penalty area.
It could be explained as simply as a bit of variation or even Salah adjusting to his first new manager in seven years. Without a doubt, he is making a considerable impact on a winning team. Still, it could be that over the next two years, this season’s 10% drop in non-penalty xG and 30% decline in xA become the first sign of a gradual decline in production.
Liverpool’s greatness over the last decade was largely defined by their ability to draft rising talent. Wouldn’t it be fitting if this era ended with Michael Edwards discovering that his superstar was on the decline just as everyone else was announcing his enduring brilliance? There will certainly be a price at which it will be too expensive to bet on Salah being able to defy the age curve. Salah himself seems to understand that this could come sooner rather than later.
And that really is the story of this season for Liverpool. Even in a year in which they seem poised to win the biggest awards, the end of a glorious era seems to be approaching. However many trophies they can achieve this season with Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk, they may well be the last, truly marking the end of Liverpool’s last era.
