Liverpool duo Salah, Van Dijk heading to Euro giants in ‘transfer swap of the year’ | OneFootball

Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are set to join Galatasaray in the summer in the ‘transfer swap of the year’, according to reports in Turkey.

The Reds lost 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night as they failed to bounce back from a 4-0 hammering from Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Those latest results have compounded the pain being felt by their poor performances and results in the Premier League after Arne Slot had guided them to the title last season.

It looks like being a miserable season for Liverpool, unless they can turn the tie around against PSG next week, with the Reds set for a summer of change.

A number of Slot’s usually reliable players have let him down this season with Salah and Van Dijk among those who will be disappointed with their performances this term.

Salah, who has been incredible in his nine years at Anfield, announced last month that he will be leaving for a new challenge in the summer, while there are rumours that Liverpool captain Van Dijk could also be on his way out.

And now Turkish website A Spor has claimed that Galatasaray are looking to bring both Salah and Van Dijk to Turkey in the summer.

The headline reads that the Liverpool duo ‘are coming’ with ‘plans to include a star player in a swap deal to reduce the transfer fee.’

Galatasaray are ‘preparing to initiate efforts’ to sign Salah and Van Dijk, while ‘Roland Sallai, the Hungarian national football player currently wearing the yellow and red Galatasaray jersey, could be offered to Liverpool.’

Sallai, who is rated at €30m (£26m) by the Turkish giants, and predominantly plays at right-back, would be Liverpool’s third Hungary international on their books, if he joins, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez already at the Premier League club.

Van Dijk: ‘Things will eventually always come to an end’

Liverpool captain Van Dijk was heavily criticised for his performance as the Reds lost to PSG on Wednesday but the Dutchman made no excuses when reacting to the defeat at the Parc des Princes.

Van Dijk said: “To lose 16 games in the season is unacceptable. But that’s the reality, the big reality, and that’s obviously why it’s so disappointing and very tough to deal with it.

“We are losing too many games, the performances have just not been good and we are struggling to find consistency.

“It’s not easy. It’s not easy. But the reality is it is like that, and you have to own up to it, deal with it, and improve it.

“That’s why this particular moment hurts so much personally, and it should hurt as well for each and everyone there in the dressing room.

“Things will eventually always come to an end, including my time at a certain point.

“At the moment, the reality is that we are inconsistent. We are losing too many games. We’re having some good moments, and we don’t stay consistent in that sense.

“But there was also a time before we had all those good years, and we came out of that as well as a club.

“So, it’s down to us as players to actually realize that we have to do it all together. We need each other.”

Slot’s tactics in their defeat to PSG have been branded “shameful” and a “sackable offence” by some pundits, while the Reds boss has explained his bizarre reasoning for dropping Mohamed Salah to the bench.

Liverpool and Arsenal are among multiple clubs from around Europe that have been told that RB Leipzig defender Castello Lukeba will leave the club this summer.