Michael Edwards could be set for an imminent return to Liverpool, and that may have implications for three senior players in Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
Fabrizio Romano posted on X in the early hours of Sunday morning that the 44-year-old is ‘close to’ rejoining the Anfield club in a broader role than the sporting director position that he previously held.
According to Football Insider, should that come to pass, it could mean that players in the 30+ age bracket such as Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk (whose current contracts expire in 2025) and Andy Robertson (2026) are less likely to be offered long-term deals on big wages when they’re up for renewal.
One of the main sticking points between Edwards and Klopp at Liverpool in the past was their differences of opinion over contract offers for ‘ageing’ players.
With the 44-year-old set to be handed a greater degree of control than in his previous time with the club, he’s set to have a bigger say over contractual matters compared to whoever comes in as our next manager.
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Salah (31) and Van Dijk (32) are Liverpool’s two highest earners on £350,000 and £220,000 per week respectively (Capology), so pragmatically you can see why Edwards may be reluctant to offer them long-term contract extensions on similar money if he returns to the club in the coming days.
However, considering how crucial both players still are to the Reds on the pitch, it’d be kamikaze stuff to simply let their current deals expire or put them up for sale.
Football Insider‘s report suggests that an ideal compromise could be found whereby the duo are kept on at Anfield beyond 2025, safeguarding their immediate futures without committing huge resources on two assets who – for their undoubted brilliance – will naturally depreciate in value throughout the rest of the decade.
Robertson is slightly younger (he turns 30 tomorrow) and earns significantly less (£100,000 per week), so there may be a viable possibility that he still receives a sizeable contract extension, although that could depend on how important Edwards view the Scotland captain to Liverpool’s long-term future.
Hopefully a solution can be found whereby all three players are still with the Reds for another few years while fitting into the wage structure that the club’s powerbrokers might seek to implement.