Decisions needed with five players currently set to leave

Decisions needed with five players currently set to leave Liverpool are good at a lot of things. The Reds are good at playing their part in summer-long transfer sagas - see Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola for more details. The 2024/25 Premier League champions are also pretty good at ignoring gaping holes in their squad. Do you know what else they're one of the best at? Failing to handle contract negotiations and letting key players leave for nothing. At the end of last season, Mohamed Salah ripped up his deal and walked away on a free. Ibrahima Konate, despite suggestions a new contract was a formality, didn't extend at Anfield and is now a Real Madrid player. Andrew Robertson was allowed to join Spurs upon the expiry of his deal. This all happened just 12 months after Trent Alexander-Arnold moved to the Spanish capital for a heavily reduced but fortunate €10million fee owing to the fact he was out of contract. Mass exodus on the cards at Liverpool with contracts set to expire Liverpool are fast approaching another significant contract crossroads, with five senior players - Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, and Wataru Endo - all entering the final 12 months of their deals. There is a world in which none of the quintuple renew and given the state of the squad right now, it would be nothing short of a disaster for the Reds. Van Dijk remains one of the best in the world and his presence will be key to the development of Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni. He'll not be short of suitors come January when he's free to talk to foreign clubs. Alisson was set to leave last summer but the upheaval behind the scenes coupled with Giorgi Mamardashvili's disappointing debut campaign meant the Reds help onto the Brazilian and he's already proven his worth in the opening two Premier League matches of the campaign. Losing either of these two without a clear succession plan - or significant transfer compensation - would have a seismic impact on this squad. And while you can point to Jacquet and Lucca Brughmans as the succession plan, can you really replace two club legends with a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old? Liverpool need squad depth to be successful Losing Van Dijk and Alisson would be terrible. Losing Gomez, Tsimikas and Endo wouldn't be a huge blow in isolation but as a collective, it is damaging to an already threadbare squad. Gomez is a multifunctional defender, adept at playing anywhere across the backline when fit. He eases the need for multiple players and losing someone as versatile as him will hurt. Tsimikas, while not the best, is good cover for Milos Kerkez and will no doubt help Iraola as a rotational option. Endo is a unqiue case. He isn't likely going to get many minutes this season but, like Gomez, he's versatile. And he brings some much needed experience to this midfield, especially now that Trey Nyoni and James McConnell have both been promoted following the sale of Curtis Jones. As much as Iraola will love to give the youngsters a chance, there are times for a more experienced head and that would be Endo. With five senior contracts ticking down, the recruitment team, under a new-look ownership group, must decide quickly who forms part of the club’s long-term future. This team can't afford another summer of upheaval.