Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk remain key - but ensuring Trent Alexander-Arnold signs a new contract must be Liverpool's top priority

Of course, Alexander-Arnold isn't the only Liverpool player at Anfield who will be in a position to speak to other clubs from January 1 on. Captain Virgil van Dijk and talisman Mohamed Salah have also entered the final year of their respective deals.

It's an unbelievable position for Liverpool to find themselves in. Finalising renewals can obviously be a tricky business, and it can take time to reach an agreement. An awful lot of financial and sporting considerations have to be factored into the equation: age, salary demands, sell-on value, injury issues, image rights etc.

However, it is astounding that these particular negotiations have been allowed to drag on this long. After all, it's not as if Liverpool have been busy buying other players this summer. Richard Hughes has yet to make a single signing since becoming the club's new sporting director at the end of the 2023-24 season.

The fans are, therefore, perfectly entitled to ask why the new season has been allowed to get under way with Liverpool yet to tie down three of their most important players - all of whom served timely reminders of their worth at Ipswich.

Van Dijk was once again majestic at the back. From a defensive perspective, he coasted through the game with his customary class and was typically dominant in the air.

He was also heavily involved in Liverpool's build-up play: no Liverpool player had more touches of the ball (89) while he also boasted the best pass completion rate of all Slot's starters (94.1 percent).

Tougher tests obviously lie in wait for the Dutchman but, even at 33, it's clear that he remains one of the most accomplished centre-backs in the world and it's easy to understand why Netherlands legend Marco van Basten believes Van Dijk will relish playing under Slot, who is all about patiently building play from the back.

It, thus, came as quite a shock to hear Van Dijk reveal after Liverpool's pre-season friendly against Sevilla just over a week ago that there was "no change" in terms of his contractual situation.

As for Salah, he made good on his pre-season promise by hitting the ground running. 'The Egyptian King' looked nothing like the ineffective and fatigued figure we saw at the end of last season, with his goal and assist at Portman Road testament to the benefits of an entire summer off.

If Salah stays fit for the duration of the 2024-25 campaign, there's no reason why he won't score 30 goals or more for what would be the fifth time in eight seasons at Anfield. In that context, it's bizarre that Salah still hasn't signed a renewal, particularly as an obscene amount of money could have been made by selling the prolific winger to a Saudi Pro League club during the summer.

With Salah having turned 32 in June, Liverpool may never get that chance again - and yet the word is that there are no negotiations going on at the moment, with neither party in a rush to resolve the matter. It's a staggering stage of affairs, and yet it is Alexander-Arnold's situation which is most concerning.

Both Salah and Van Dijk clearly still have plenty left to offer at the highest level - the former reportedly believes that he could continue at the top until he's 40, which is unsurprising for a player with such an impressive physique and relatively unblemished injury record. However, there's simply no hiding the fact that the senior duo are approaching the twilight of their careers. Alexander-Arnold, by contrast, still has his very best years ahead of him.

What's more, as a local lad blessed with world-class qualities, he is perfectly placed to become the leader of a new era at Anfield, the symbol of Slot's side. As former Liverpool striker John Aldridge recently wrote in The Sunday World, "losing Alexander-Arnold in his prime would be a disaster." And to lose him for nothing would be utterly unforgivable.

The more time that passes, though, the more chance there is of this nightmare scenario becoming a reality.

The hope is that Alexander-Arnold's obvious love of his hometown club will keep him at Anfield. He really does still see himself as "the normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true". His pride at going from academy graduate to senior star was there for all to see when he posted a picture on social media of him standing alongside Jurgen Klopp's 'kids' after the Carabao Cup win over Liverpool in February.

However, Alexander-Arnold wouldn't be human if he wasn't tempted by the opportunity to play with Real Madrid's latest collection of Galacticos, which includes Jude Bellingham, one of his closest friends in football.

It's no secret that Alexander-Arnold and former captain Jordan Henderson did their utmost to try to convince Bellingham to join Liverpool while on international duty, so it would not be in the least bit surprising if Bellingham were now attempting to persuade his England team-mate to move in the opposite direction.

It's also worth pointing out that Alexander-Arnold, at 25, was a key protagonist in one of the greatest eras in the club's history. Under mentor Klopp, he won pretty much all there is to win. If he were to leave, he would definitely do so as a Liverpool legend. His place in the club's hall of fame is already secure.

Furthermore, while the early signs are that Alexander-Arnold will benefit from Slot's use of a double-pivot in midfield, which should afford him greater protection when he gets forward down the right wing, there's little chance of him forming quite the same bond with the Dutchman as he did with Klopp.

That's not slight on Slot's man-management skills, just an acknowledgement of the impossibility of a replication of the unique relationship Alexander-Arnold enjoyed with the charismatic coach that launched him on his path towards superstardom.

It would, thus, be incredibly naive to think that Alexander-Arnold's renewal is somehow inevitable; that the West Derby defender will stay simply because he once dreamt of captaining the club. Liverpool are lucky in the sense that Conor Bradley has emerged as potential in-house replacement over the past eight months but, as Jamie Carragher has pointed out, there's not a defender in the world that possesses Alexander-Arnold's particular set of skills.

"He's probably the most talked-about full-back I've ever known," the former Liverpool centre-half told the Blood Red podcast. "And I think that's because we've never seen anything like him before. He's a playmaker from full-back.

"You'd actually probably say he's a great player before he's a great full-back - but that's what makes him different, that's what makes him special, and that's why Liverpool have got to get this contract situation sorted for him as soon as possible."

Because it's gone on far too long as it is - and now risks becoming a distraction, for both the player and his manager. At this stage, it shouldn't be journalists lining up to speak to Alexander-Arnold about a renewal; it should be Hughes and the rest of the recruitment team.