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Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he hopes Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold stay at the club and has stressed he has no regrets about his own decision to leave.
Forward Salah and defenders Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold are all currently on contracts that will run out this summer.
Klopp, who stepped down as Reds manager at the end of last season and is now Red Bull’s head of global soccer, told a press conference in Salzburg on Tuesday: “He (Salah) is the biggest striker Liverpool had in modern times.
“Fantastic player, fantastic human being, outstanding athlete, best ambassador (Egypt) could have. Fantastic really in very much all departments. So I hope he will stay at Liverpool.
“From my point of view I would love all three of them to extend their contracts, but I don’t know. They didn’t tell me.”
Klopp also gave a playful answer when asked about the possibility of the trio joining Red Bull’s network of clubs in the future, in which he referenced criticism of right-back Alexander’s defending.
The German said: “Oh, yeah – Virgil, I’m pretty sure he would love to have now five more years at Liverpool and then between 41 and 44 for New York Red Bulls because he probably underestimates US football. But open arms, no problem.
He is the biggest striker Liverpool had in modern times. I hope he will stay.
Jurgen Klopp on Mohamed Salah
“Mo, yes, would love to – I don’t think we have a chance to pay him to be honest.
“And then Trent, yeah, and he could finally learn defending, eh? I can’t believe that you all discuss this still, it’s so poor and I’m really happy I’m not part of that.
“I watched the press conference when he (Klopp’s successor Arne Slot) had to talk about it, and you think ‘oh my God, they still don’t understand it’!
“And yes he didn’t play well against Manchester United (the 2-2 draw at Anfield on January 5), but if you would make such a fuss of him when he plays well, like you make a fuss of it when he doesn’t play well, that would be really a cool planet.”
Klopp stepped down after a near nine-year tenure during which Liverpool – with the likes of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold key – won silverware including the Champions League in 2019 and Premier League in 2020.
Under Dutchman Slot, the team are currently top of the league table, and Klopp said: “I’m so happy that they do so well, that’s what I was hoping for.
“I’m in contact with some people, with Arne texting, players texting, stuff like this. There is not 0.01 percentage that I think ‘oh my God, I should still be there’, not at all.
“I’m more than happy not to be there. Because they are doing so well that’s really great, I wish them all the best and I watch as many games as I can and could, because it’s great football.
“Even if you don’t support Liverpool right now you’d better watch it because it’s really top, top, top football, maybe the best balanced in the world out there right now. I’m really, really happy about that.”
