‘Hang on a minute…’ – Gary Lineker hits back at criticism of Liverpool over contract sagas | OneFootball

Gary Lineker has questioned criticism of Liverpool over the length of time it’s taken to resolve the contract situations of three crucial players at Anfield.

A tremendous season on the pitch for the Reds has unfolded amid the constant spectre of whether Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold would sign new deals, with all three having been in the final year of their existing terms.

Although the right-back looks set to leave for Real Madrid, the Egyptian winger has committed to LFC for at least two more years, and the club captain also seems to be nearing a contract extension.

Lineker defends Liverpool over contract saga criticism

It look as though the three-pronged saga is finally nearing its conclusion, with some journalists, pundits and fans pointing fingers at Liverpool for allowing those deals to edge so near to expiry.

However, Lineker argued that it’s not all on the club, as the players themselves would’ve wanted to give themselves as much time as possible to evaluate their options before committing to a decision.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football, the former England striker said: “I’ve heard a lot of pundits being really critical of Liverpool and saying ‘Why did they leave it so long before they renewed the contracts?’

“I’m thinking, ‘Hang on a minute’! It’s not just about the football club. It comes from the players.

“If I was an agent of a player now, I would say ‘See right near the end and it gives you a much better negotiating position’, so it’s actually not just Liverpool. If the player is going ‘No, I’m not going to sign, then I might want to leave at the end of the season’. It’s a two-way thing.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Contractual matters always take time to be resolved

Now that we know Salah is saying and Van Dijk almost certainly will, it’s easier to be philosophical about the protracted contract saga involving those two and Trent.

It’s quite understandable that all three would’ve wanted to assess their options before deciding whether or not to renew, and such a decision isn’t one to be made flippantly. Also, they’re within their rights to seek the best possible terms and conditions for themselves, and to not commit until they were happy with their lot.

On the club’s side, offers were made to all three players, each of whom rejected the first proposal made to them. That shows that, to be fair to Richard Hughes, there was a concerted effort to try and keep each of them at Anfield, even if it has been left uncomfortably close to the 30 June expiry date.

Also, in defence of the current sporting director, he was bequeathed a proverbial hot potato by those who’d been in the boardroom before his arrival and failed to resolve the matter before it got to a stage where fans were forced to live on their nerves for several months.

As James Pearce put it in a piece for The Athletic in February, ‘FSG should not have let this happen to three of their top-performing and high-value players’.

Contractual affairs are never as simple as slapping a number on a sheet of paper and leaving a pen for it to be signed straight away, and at least we’re now nearing closure with Van Dijk and Trent after Salah’s future was resolved.

For Hughes going forward, there’s a lesson in not allowing so many players to get this close to letting their deals expire, although reports that further contract talks are already underway would suggest that the sporting director is determined to avoid a repeat of the soap opera which has played out in recent months.