'If he decides to leave' - Virgil van Dijk drops biggest hint yet that Trent Alexander-Arnold will cut ties with Liverpool as he defends Real Madrid-bound team-mate

Alexander-Arnold is rumoured to have already agreed to a free transfer to Real Madrid as his contract is set to expire at the end of the current season. Negotiations over a renewal at Anfield are said to have hit a dead end as the England international is convinced that a move to the 15-time European champions is his best course of action.

Alexander-Arnold scored a massive goal on Sunday evening against Leicester City and helped Liverpool inch even closer to winning the Premier League, right after he returned to action following his injury. The right-back has refused to announce what the future holds but Van Dijk has now dropped the biggest hint yet that his team-mate will leave the Reds this summer.

Speaking to the media, Van Dijk said: "Whatever may happen in the future for him, that's something that he has to resolve with himself and the family, but he's a Liverpool player at this point and he's important for our team. He has been important throughout the whole season and today again he came back from the injury, a long one, and that's what I'm happy about... Since I joined the club, he has been a fantastic player and there's a lot of good things that he will always be remembered for if he decides to leave.

"Listen, at this point we don't know as a group what's going to happen...There's a lot of noise around him and obviously everyone can argue if it's his own fault, it's just part of life nowadays. When he scores a big goal like that, I think he deserves applause for stepping up in that particular moment and to soak it all in because whether he stays or leaves, these are moments which you shouldn't take for granted to give us as a team the opportunity on Sunday to finish it off.

"I think he deserved that moment and now it's back to work and be ready for the weekend."

The Reds are likely to lose Alexander-Arnold this summer, but fans of the Merseyside club have received a lot of good news in Mohamed Salah and Van Dijk's renewals. They are soon set to win the Premier League title, as they sit one win away from that feat.