Van Dijk makes huge double claim on Salah’s Liverpool future with ‘more parties at play’ admission | OneFootball

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has spoken of his determination to convince Mohamed Salah to remain at Anfield beyond the January window, and having made clear his ongoing talks with the player aimed at convincing him, while at the same time offering Arne Slot enormous praise for his handling of the difficult situation.

The Egyptian superstar was back in the Liverpool team on Saturday and breaking even more records – this time becoming the player to have claimed the most combined goals and assists combined for a single Premier League side – as the defending champions recorded a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Brighton.

With Salah stepping off the bench after just 26 minutes, owing to an injury to Joe Gomez, Salah played a starring role in the win, which lifts Slot’s side back up to sixth, though still 10 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

After the game, Salah did a lap of honour and, with the hint of a tear in his eye, there were many who felt that was the player saying farewell, for good, to the Anfield faithful.

Despite that, Van Dijk is determined to convince his long-time teammate that his future still lies on Merseyside and the Dutchman has made clear his wishes for Salah to stay.

“I speak to him about everything. I told him I want him to stay,” Van Dijk said.

“I would love to have him around as he is one of the leaders, but the fact is, he is going to AFCON. We will be in contact over the next days and weeks, like we always are and let’s see.

“I wish him absolutely all the best – and come back. Hopefully. I have no control over that.

“We hope he will be absolutely successful there, and we all hope he will be coming back to be important for the rest of the season.

“But, on the other side of it, we all know football and have no idea what is going to happen.

“He is very important – and still [is] as you see with another assist – to the football club, but there are more parties to this situation.”

Salah praises Slot for handling the Mohamed Salah saga so well

Despite his reintroduction to the squad off the bench on Saturday, our transfer insider Graeme Bailey has been told by sources that Salah is still not entirely happy with his situation and will not just accept a place on the Reds bench if he is to return and with the real reason behind his outburst now coming to light.

The 33-year-old has started as a substitute in four of the Reds’ last five matches, with the fifth game the one against Inter Milan, where he was removed from the squad entirely.

In a second admission about the saga, Van Dijk, who joined Liverpool in January 2018, six months after Salah arrived from Roma, has insisted that the Liverpool squad has not been affected by the media circus which has followed the player’s angry “thrown under the bus” comments, instead training their vision on the matter in hand: winning games of football.

“The situation is just bringing so much noise. As a captain, I have to deal with how the boys react to it, and they reacted perfectly fine. Mo, in the end, reacted perfectly fine as well,” added the Dutchman.

“I hear, observe, and that’s the most important thing.

“If you feel like it could be a problem within the squad and could affect performances, then you have a different story, but we showed this week that we are absolutely united and we go forward as one.”

The 34-year-old captain also had strong words of praise for his manager, feeling Slot has handled a very difficult situation with total professionalism.

“There is a lot of noise, pressure from the outside world, and rightly so, as we’ve not been close to the standard we were showing last season,” he said.

“But personally looking at it, and from the conversations we have on a daily basis, I think he has handled it very well.

“This moment of time is a very good moment to see how everyone responds. I think the manager has done perfectly.”

Liverpool reach Salah sale decision; Konate lets slip Egyptian’s plan

Meanwhile, a strong report claims Liverpool have ZERO intention of selling Salah in January, though the Reds can expect to bank a whopping £100m when they do decide to cash in, amid six new revelations about the transfer saga.

On the subject of his teammate, Ibrahima Konate has released an interview with the French media in which he has offered a hugely telling hint from inside Liverpool’s dressing room on whether Salah is staying or going.

Furthermore, Slot insisted he wants Salah to remain a Liverpool player with his own post-match comments.

Asked if Salah has played his final match in red, Slot told Sky Sports: “I think you already know the answer to that.”

In another interview and in a reply to questions about whether Salah will return to Liverpool after AFCON, Slot simply stated: “Yes!”

In other news, Liverpool have Rennes defender Jeremy Jacquet on their wishlist as a potential replacement for Konate, according to a report, with another source revealing the .