Salah’s new deal explained, Van Dijk’s hero moment & the title edges closer!
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Alright Reds, Tony Evans here with Walk On, your Liverpool podcast from The Athletic. I'm here with James Pearce and Oliver Kaye. Well, they're creeping closer to the title as Liverpool got back to winning ways and Arsenal dropped points again. Funny that, isn't it? We'll look at when the Reds will be crowned champions and get an update on the players who are more in than out. But first, let's have those three words. Oli, welcome back to the show. Brilliant to see you. Have you got three words for me? Er, palm and dry.

Home and dry. Which is not technically the case, but realistically it is, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And it has been for months. James? I'm going with Verge of Glory. Oh! See what I've done there? Oh, dear me. You can imagine. That sounds like a bad red top headline. That's what Ollie and James think. Here's what you're saying.

Christian Mon, Two More Winds, Jed Lunny, The Hard Way, Lee Taylor, Crowns at Anfield and Paul William, On The Verge. Same as James. To join our community of listeners on Facebook, just search Walk On Podcast and join the group. Well, before we go into that, today is the 36th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

and we sent out all our love and best wishes to everyone affected by it and certainly I understand the depths of their effect. I think it's important that we say it's time to get behind the proposed Hillsborough law which will introduce a duty of candour for public servants so they won't be able to lie

to inquest, mislead inquests like the South Yorkshire Police did. At six minutes past three, give a moment's thought to everyone who was there and suffered from it. And just, yeah, just a moment's respect. James, what did you make of that game? The victory over West Ham?

I mean, it looked like, well, certainly at times in the game, it looked like West Ham were top of the league and we were West Ham. Yeah, it was a strange game. I actually thought Liverpool were good first half. I thought, you know, brilliantly worked goal. I thought Salah, certainly before he faded in the second half, first half, it was the Salah of the first half.

five, six months of the season. What a ball, what a ball. Ridiculous, ridiculous. Yeah, I felt sorry for the young full-back because Salah absolutely tormented him, didn't he, with his movement and his trickery. Are you getting soft in your old age, feeling sorry for opposition full-backs? Because I didn't. I was like, this is a lesson he's learned and this will do him good. Yeah, I mean, the quality of the pass for...

for Diaz's goal was just absolutely sensational, wasn't it? And then at that point, I thought Liverpool would just kick on and kill it off. But they got so sloppy second half. They invited pressure. But for the absolute brilliance of Alisson, West Ham would have been on level terms long before that.

that mix up at the back that led to Robertson's own goal. So, yeah, in the end, you can't beat, can you, winning a game like that with a late winner. But, yeah, it was, it probably, you know, Slott touched upon it after. It probably was the first time this season where you could say that Liverpool were

were undeserved winners of a game. And sometimes that just makes it all the sweeter. Oh, yeah, I like that, Oli. I mean, you know, I enjoyed Howard's end. The own goal gave a little bit of added spice to the pleasure of it.

Yeah, and you only had to look at the reaction of Andy Robertson to the own goal. I mean, Virgil van Dijk's barely put a foot wrong all season or even indeed for the seven years prior to that. But, you know, he was at fault for that goal, got in Robertson's way and Robertson was clearly not happy with him and screaming at him, yelling at him. But then, you know, van Dijk...

knew he had some making up to do and obviously he popped up within two minutes. It was interesting, the response to that goal because the second half performance had been so poor and

And then almost as soon as West Ham equalised, Diaz went very, very close with that shot that Areola pushed over the bar. And it was, yeah, it looked like Liverpool had been stung into action and maybe they needed to be stung into action a bit earlier. But it was, yeah, the response when it came was quick and very emphatic. And it was nice that it was Van Dijk being the man to do it, I think,

the symbolism of the, of his contract situation, as well as the season as a whole, and as well as the goal that preceded it. James, one of the things that, honestly, I get really bored with it, because I've heard it so many times over the years is, oh, the Anfield's atmosphere, the Anfield's atmosphere. And there were people saying, you know, two o'clock kickoff at West Ham, saying, oh, it was flat, it was flat. But once the own goal went in, and once the,

Once it was needed. The atmosphere just kicked in. And as I keep saying to people, there will be really flat periods, like any grounds. But when you're needed, it's there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was such a contrast as well because it was just flat for a lot of the second half because, of course, the lead at the top is so great. There's not the same kind of sense of jeopardy that we've had in other title races Liverpool have been involved in in the modern era. But, yeah, I think there was just... Once the equaliser went in, just the whole mood around the stadium just changed. It was like...

No, I don't know. We can't. We're not cocking this up against West Ham. You know, West Ham never get a result at Anfield. It's not starting now. And yeah, you could sense how much that inspired...

slots players because it was like a switch had been flicked, wasn't it? That suddenly there was this urgency and tempo and intensity to Liverpool's play that had been completely and utterly lacking since half-time. And it leads to Van Dijk nodding home his first Premier League goal at Anfield since...

came to town, what, 14 months ago. So yeah, and I thought it was interesting watching Slott after the final whistle because that was as animated as I've seen him

after a win all season you know throwing his arms up in front of the carp and he actually he went up to van dyke and and basically said to van dyke get all the players together and i want them to kind of like basically applaud the fans for for what they what they did for us there so um yeah it was definitely one of those moments when the power of anfield came to the fore

So in theory, Oli, they could win the league this weekend. But Arsenal would have to lose a dip switch and I find that hard to conceive personally. But that would set up Tottenham at home for a chance, opportunity to win the title. And certainly I've seen them beat Tottenham twice to win the league at Anfield, 1982, 1988.

And, again, that was another occasion, in 88 in particular, where the atmosphere was a bit muted, even though it's won the league. So, you know, Anfield will bring its power when it needs it, but when it doesn't, who cares? Yeah, but you can see, you know, if that's the case in two weeks' time and that Spurs game at home and it's a case of...

Winning the title that day or beating Spurs to win the title, I think the atmosphere then would be enormous. Not tense and frenetic and sort of, not to go back to Chelsea's second leg in 2005 or Barcelona 2019 type atmosphere, but I imagine it would just be one huge celebration because as you

has been observed many times. Liverpool didn't have the chance to celebrate the title in the ground in 2020. It's been 35 years since Liverpool fans have been in the ground when the team have been crowned champions and I think the atmosphere on that day would be, well, certainly loud and enormous. It would be a very, very special occasion but it's...

Yeah, you look at it and it's felt like a matter of when, not if, for a long time, really, for weeks and some would argue months. But it's, yeah, I think now you can pinpoint

Is it going to be this weekend at Leicester? Probably not. Is it going to be the weekend after that? Probably against Spurs. And if it's not by then, if Liverpool slip up in one of those two games, then it will be not long afterwards. It really is when rather than if. James would also relegate Leicester if we beat them there. And given the amount of times their fans have poverty chanted

Well shed no tears for them either was we? No you're right yeah I've I can I can think of a couple of visits to the King Power when you've sat through those those chants and left scratching your head having spent time in Leicester earlier on in the day as well it's not it's not exactly streets paved with gold territory so yeah it's I don't think there'll be too many tears shed on their on their behalf but

But I hope it happens at Anfield, I must admit. I don't think you can completely rule out Ipswich beating Arsenal because I think we don't know what kind of physical and mental toil that game in the Bernabeu will have on Arteta's team midweek this week before that. And of course, if Real Madrid were to pull off

a famous comeback, then, then of course, Arsenal would be mortally wounded. If Arsenal go through, which is most likely they'll have, you know, the, the much bigger priority will be, be getting players fit and, and ready for the, the semifinals. So, um,

But yeah, I hope we have to wait another week. Not just because I'm not actually going to be at Leicester on Sunday. So there's partly selfish reasons as well, apart from the fact that I'd love to see it happen in a full Anfield. So you're gambling on this, are you? Well, I've had an absolute nightmare because it's the missus' birthday in the back end of May. So quite a long time ago, I said to her,

there's no chance we can go away for your birthday because there's a very good chance Liverpool will win the league. They might even get to the Champions League final in Munich. So she said, well, what about the back end of April? So I said, well, yeah, I can miss a game at the back end of April because, you know, there'll be nothing riding on that. A year of little faith. Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't... Well, none of us thought it was weird. I'll be in a bar in New York watching the game at Leicester

Oh, look at the international traveller there. Oh, you know, look at me. I'll be in a bar in New York. Ollie, see what I have to put up with every week. I think it's quite hard sometimes for people to understand that even football writers have to take the odd day off. Yeah, you've convinced me, James, that it's going to happen on Sunday. LAUGHTER

Simon Hughes, of course.

isn't here today because he's another one. Does he ever work, James? He's nearly as bad as you. Some of us get 25 days off holiday a year. I think his contract is 25 days work a year. Yeah, that sounds like that. However, the stuff he does in those 25 days is sometimes excellent. In fact, it's always excellent. Not sometimes. And he wrote a big piece about Salah and his contract surrogate.

And if anyone would know, it would be because he wrote a book about Salah called Chasing Salah, which is up for every award in journalism, I believe.

Wasn't it you told me, James, it was a Pulitzer Prize he was up for? That's what I was hearing, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's an exceptional book available. It's all good bookshops and some really, really, really bad ones. But, James, this has come full circle for you. That night in Southampton when Salah wanted to speak to you,

for the first time about it to say he was more out than in you know and size piece was very good yeah it was yeah yeah yeah some fascinating fascinating detail in there about the the entire saga and the the

and forth and how it all worked and the communication and the meetings between Rami Abbas' representative and Richard Hughes, obviously the Liverpool Sporting Director who led the talks on behalf of the club. So yeah, if anyone hasn't read that already, I'd thoroughly recommend to go to the Athletic app and have a read because yeah, it's a lot of great detail in that. And yeah, it was...

It was, you know, I think that was around the time, wasn't it? When, of course, there was clear frustration on Salah's part about the pace at which things were moving, because, you know, as we talked about previously, it was it was certainly premeditated that day. I mean, Simon writes in that piece, actually, that that Salah was.

expecting Sky Sports to ask him about his contract situation after that Southampton game and they didn't which was why then he was so keen to to speak to three or four of us that were gathered in the cold outside St Mary's and and almost break the habit of a lifetime by chatting to the um the English written media so uh

So yeah, and then off the back of that, things seem to gather pace to the point where you can tell from Simon's article that I think this was how Salah always hoped it would pan out. It just needed to be a deal that him and Abbas felt properly recognised his enduring status as

as one of the best players in the world. So, yeah, it was one hell of a saga, but with a happy ending. I think, yeah, James is selling himself short there, Oli, because I think what Salah thought, you know what, there's that James Pearce fella. You know, he's got a million followers on social media and he's the authoritative voice of Liverpool and actually defines some of the policies, recruitment policies. I'll go and get him to sort it out. Yeah.

And he also thought, you know, James Pearce is here. This is probably going to be my last chance to see him before he goes on holiday again. So, no, I have felt throughout this process that apart from, there were a couple of moments where Salah kind of publicly almost challenged the...

challenge the Liverpool hierarchy to sort of sort it out and put some pressure but it was it's kind of quite low-key really and Van Dijk has not done that at all really I mean you know Van Dijk has sort of spoken after every match without ever really putting pressure on you know he's never really been too open or said too much about the the contract situation Trent Alexander's Arnold has

said nothing all season, which is, you know, that's another extreme and that's a different story. But I felt that Salah's comments looked sort of quite deliberate, but also fairly harmless in some ways. You compare it to how sometimes things are when a player is negotiating a contract or something.

or where they feel like they're not being respected by the club or whatever. Sometimes it can be very, very, very public. You know, go back to Wayne Rooney at Man United 15 years ago now. It was, you know, that was such sort of aggressive briefing against the club and the club ended up briefing against a player. And that's how it can go. And I think Liverpool...

never really responded or engaged with the idea, you know, in terms of privately, publicly. He spoke to people at the club. James would have spoke to people at the club even more than I did. And they were never really going to get involved in playing a game where they said, look, where they gave a running commentary on it. I think as a, you know, even if that meant taking some flack in the short term and getting, you know, allowing that sort of narrative of, oh, they haven't opened talks, they haven't made him an offer. Well,

there were negotiations all along and Liverpool, I think, engaged in it absolutely the right way by not getting dragged into a media game. I think Salah realised, look, this has to be done respectfully. So the past, since Southampton in November was it, Salah's been quiet and generally expressed the hope that things get sorted out. And I think Van Dijk has said,

Led by example in that, you know, speak every week, but never really shedding much light on the contract situation. It's all seemed respectful. And I think that is the way to do it. And that's why they've managed to agree the contract with Salah without it exploding at any point. That's why they've managed to agree it with Van Dijk, you know, on the verge of signing. And I think...

the Alexander-Arnold situation is a different one, but at least it has been done respectfully. There's been no mudslinging on either side. And I think that reflects well on certainly the Liverpool hierarchy and the people behind the scenes at Liverpool. Yeah, I think James Darrier, I thought Salah and Van Dijk handles it really well because they made it clear that they wanted to stay. Both of them have made it clear that they want to stay and it really put the ball in the club's court and

And now we've seen, you know, it's worked and it looks like there's a happy ending, at least for those two. And what are the details of the contract? Very similar terms to what he's on currently with Salah. And I think there was some speculation that he'd been asked or expected to take a pay cut. You know, people close to Salah.

The detail of this, Adam, that's not the case and that was never on the agenda. His current deal is complex because of all the bonuses built into it. But it's roughly around £350,000 a week basic with bonuses on top of that, which...

effectively takes it up to around half a million pound a week i know rami abbas when they did the the harvard business school study said that when you when you factor in all the various endorsements and sponsorships salar earns about a million pound a week um all in

So, yeah, similar terms to take him through to the summer of 2027. And I think, you know, despite it dragging on so long, you know, I think both with Salah and Van Dijk, although obviously Salah was more outspoken at various points than Van Dijk has been. I think, as you said, Tony, it was just so clear that both of them wanted to stay, that they wanted this to be the outcome of

And that, you know, especially when you read Simon's piece, you know, it didn't it doesn't even there wasn't even really like a moment where it was like, you know, a big decision to have to make between, you know, this offer and staying at Liverpool because he just wanted to stay at Liverpool. It was about getting the right deal to stay at Liverpool because he clearly wasn't ready to walk away unassisted.

from elite level football and go and play in Saudi Arabia because if money was the only motivation then he'd be playing for Al Hilal next season so yeah it's a big financial commitment from Liverpool for both of them and it's unprecedented isn't it in Liverpool's history to effectively have a situation where your two highest wage earners in a couple of months will be 33 and 34 but

I just don't see it as a gamble because I just think the weight of evidence is just overwhelming over the course of this season that they will keep on performing at the highest level for another couple of years to come. Yeah, Oli, there is a school of thought within the analytics world that when players go into decline, particularly forwards, they drop off a cliff, they don't go slowly. And obviously that would have been...

an issue of play in Liverpool's minds. But as James said, Salah's performances and his level of fitness and also his personal ambition, because, I mean, we've long said on this podcast that there was very little chance of him going to Saudi Arabia. He still thinks he is a winner at the highest level. And, you know, I have to say I agree with him on there. But there are concerns, obviously,

And you can see what the club were thinking and you can see perhaps why they left it too late, even if it didn't satisfy many of us.

You can see what, you know, there was this idea and there was the banner on the cup wasn't a sort of idea of paying what he wants, you know, just whatever he wants, whatever it takes, just pay it. And that would have been madness. It would be madness in terms of the size of the contract, but also the impact that has on the dressing room and on the pay structure. And of course on the club's finances generally, if, if,

if you just accept an agent's or a player's first demand at the start of a negotiation. I mean, I think that the Salah van Dijk negotiations, I think they've handled really well. Clearly, it's gone a long time, almost down to the wire, but the club have been confident

all along about the direction of travel with those two. And they are, sometimes you'd say that they're rational to a fault, but it's a very, very rational management that Liverpool have. They're not...

They're not into just doing things as statements or as doing things from a position of weakness. They will always, always, always consult the data and consult the eye test as well. I mean, it's HonestLot's impact and opinion on it will have been considered enormously as well as the data and as well as what everyone else can see. But I think if you look at Seller,

And you say, is he as electrifying in terms of speed on the ball, acceleration, as he was when he first arrived at Liverpool? No, I don't think he can beat the first man and get quite as easily as he could at that time. I think in terms of it being electrifying, fast, all of those things, incisive in that way.

I would say he was quicker and more dangerous and sort of more, he was at a higher level of... More explosive. More explosive, faster, etc. But he's 32, nearly 33 now. He's still incredibly fast. He's a more precise, dangerous, composed finisher than ever, I would say. He's also a far better creator, a far better passer, a far more intelligent footballer than he was in the past. So...

I would have said, if you look at this time last year, I would have said Salah has begun to decline. I think last season he scored 25 goals and got loads of assists. And he had the hamstring injury. Yeah, but he looked... His last season, I don't think at any point, although his numbers were really, really good, really strong, I don't think his numbers were as good as...

I don't think his performance level was as high as the previous season. This season, he's been brilliant. So if he's going to decline over the next two years, which you'd say, you know, that would be perfectly normal for a forward between the ages of 33 and 35 or for a central defender Van Dijk between the ages of 34 and 36, you would expect them to decline. But I would think everything that Liverpool's data and analysis shows perfectly

would point to it being a gradual decline. And if they are declining, the two of them, well, it's declining from an incredible height because they're probably the two best players in the Premier League this season, probably the two most influential players. So I think, although it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a no-brainer, you don't just sort of pay whatever it takes to

I do feel it's the right decision and a sensible decision. And I don't think they'd have made it if it hadn't been a sensible decision. They're not the type to just do the thing that would make them popular. They've thought about it. You know, James, if you look at the first few minutes of that game against West Ham, there was a ball early on behind the centre-half and you thought, oh, he's in.

And, you know, and he didn't get there, Salah. You know, the centre-half got to the ball before him and you're like, oh, oh, you know. But then he plays that ball for the goal. And frankly, it was Dalgleish-like. Yeah. That when I see him do things like that with the outside of his foot, you just go...

You know, pace was never part of Dalglish's game. You know, the pace was all in his brain and Salah has got that element about him. I personally think we can feel pretty confident we'll get two good years out of him. And I think, as we've mentioned before on this podcast, it's a good deal because in a year's time, if it isn't going great, then he still has a lot of value. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're right. I think...

Sunday, for me, just kind of showed, especially the first half, the evolution of him as a player. Because as Oli said, it's completely unrealistic to think that he could do at nearly 33 what he could do when he was 26. But he's such an intelligent footballer that...

where he's maybe lost certain elements which really benefited him previously, he's added other strings to his bow. And, you know, the numbers just illustrate that, don't they? I think he broke the record on Sunday for most goal involvements in a 38-game Premier League season. It was at 27 goals, 18 assists in the league. Now, there's only two behind the record of 20 league assists in a season now.

held jointly by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry. That shows what kind of... Yeah, I think it's nailed on. I think you've got six games left.

So, yeah, that creative spark and awareness of teammates around him. I mean, he made something incredibly difficult look so easy to put it on a plate for Diaz like that. And, yeah, he is an absolute joy to watch. And the other thing with...

I agree with Oli that they have been the two most influential players in the Premier League this season, I think. But for Salah's numbers, we'd be talking about Van Dijk as a potential PFA, FWA Football of the Year winner. But it's also their durability. Because surely when you're crunching the numbers with Liverpool's data-led approach,

you're thinking because inevitably you think well when players reach the back end of their career they're bound to you know the wear and tear the you know the miles on the clock and everything else but they just don't miss games do they? You know it's you know there's only been three players who have been ever present in the Premier League for Liverpool all season and you know Gravenberg's the other one I mean Van Dijk is just a machine he's played every single minute of every Premier League game and you

you know, it's because he's been so ridiculously good. I think people pounce on, you know, you know, Beto causes him what probably two issues in the, in the Merseyside Derby. Muniz calls him, you know, causes him a couple of issues at Fulham. And it's like, suddenly people are like, you know, he's having a, he's having a wobble. Well, you know, it's,

for 99.9% of this season, for me, Van Dijk has been absolutely immense. And the other thing with him, which you can't quantify with data, is the leadership and what he gives you off the pitch. Because...

Even on Sunday after the game against West Ham, you know, he was doing his usual media duties where he speaks to all the Merseyside-based reporters. And he saw Sean Cox coming towards him with his family. They were special guests of the club because it was Sean Cox's birthday recently. And...

And Van Dyke kind of apologised to all the reporters and said, just bear with me a second. And went to embrace Sean Cox and said to his family, I'll be down to speak to you shortly. It'd be great to have a catch up. And it's just that there's so much that he does away from the glare that...

that just he is he is just the perfect leader in terms of he embraces everything that comes with with wearing that armband so it's like it's for me trying to replace Van Dyke this summer would have been even more difficult than trying to replace Salah

Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's... We spoke about it briefly on the pod last week, Oli, and I was saying, with Salah, you've got to replace by committee. One player won't do it. But, you know, you need forwards who will fill that void. And with Van Dijk, the big problem is you've got to get a like-for-like or as near-for-like, like-for-like, dominant, leading centre-half, one that shows this...

to organise and take the rest of the team with them. I mean, that's going to be really difficult even with two extra years. Yeah, yeah. I mean, what we might see is Van Dijk maybe sitting out the odd Premier League game over the next two years. Maybe he'll reach a stage where he's not one of those that can be guaranteed to play twice a week at a really, really high level. Maybe they'll have to handle his minutes a bit more carefully, but...

I can guarantee that when that happens, whoever will be sort of playing alongside, presumably Ibrahima Kanate, on the left-handed side of that defence as Van Dijk's deputy, it will be a big drop-off because he's so ridiculously good at every aspect of it. I mean, sometimes I think, could he have sort of thrown his body in the way of that shot? That's the only kind of mild criticism that...

I ever have of him. And I'm just sort of reminded of the sort of Franco Barisi, Paolo Maldini approach that, you know, if your shorts are dirty at the end of a match, then you've not defended properly. It's all about anticipation. He's brilliant. He's absolutely brilliant. And he makes everybody else... Couldn't we have used Alan Hansen in there? You know what I mean? Could have done, could have done, but it's... No, he's...

He's on another level to me. I mean, Al Hansen, I remember Al Hansen when I was growing up, brilliant player, but I think Van Dijk will go down as the greatest Liverpool central defender and that might offend people of a certain age, probably my age, but I think he's that good and he's that transformative and he's...

Everybody who plays alongside him looks so much better with him than without him. You've seen it at times over the last five, six games, the odd game where Joe Gomez will play with Canate or Gomez will play with Matip or Lovren before that. We all remember Lovren was kind of erratic. But when he played alongside Van Dijk, he looked brilliant. Everybody looks brilliant when they play alongside him.

And when he goes, the size of the void he would have left if he'd left Liverpool or if he was leaving Liverpool this summer would be absolutely enormous. In a different way to if Salah had been on his way out. But yeah, it would be an absolutely enormous void. And I think Liverpool have decided that probably partly because there is quite a lot of rebuilding to do with this squad. So, I mean, you just would not,

in a million years want to make that even harder by losing arguably your two most influential players irrespective of their age. So James, we've just spoken about Van Dijk. When are they going to announce it? Come on, you must know. If only. Well,

I think you could see by the wry smile on his face when he said about there could be some news next week that it was imminent. He was picking his words very carefully when he spoke to us after the game in terms of... He kind of said, I know, but I don't know, was one of the things he said. So, yeah, I think my guess would be the back end of the week. Yeah.

you know just to fuel that feel-good factor ahead of the game at Leicester on Sunday but yeah it's it it's it's I think you could I could sense from from him as well there's a you know obviously a great pride and satisfaction at the fact that you know his his Liverpool career is going to go on beyond this this season and probably a little bit of relief as well that that it's kind of

come to a conclusion because I'm sure he's been bored having to answer questions about it on a weekly basis because he does always front up after every single game so yeah it's imminent I think it's just a case of picking the right moment you know there was some talk last week wasn't there that it could even happen on the same day as the Salah one which you know aside from anything else would have been absolutely nonsensical because why on earth would you

would you announce two such great bits of good news in such quick succession? You know, Salah had his kind of day of... And what would you dress Van Dyke up as? You know, there's Salah on a throne dressed up like that. Oh, we dance at the same time. What would we make him? Hmm.

I don't know if I'm going to go there. Yeah, they're going to have to go some, aren't they? Obviously, whisking Salah in to the cover of darkness last Thursday evening into Anfield. You have to feel a bit sorry for whoever had to go and fetch a throne at short notice. They might need a few days to try and come up with a grand plan for the Van Dijk contract unveiling.

Don't they have a throne in situ for Kenny? Possibly, possibly. And anyway, I'm told one of the big factors, Oli, in Van Dyke wanting to stay is that, you know, he gets to hang with James, you know, after every game in the mix zone. You know, he's like, you know, I'll miss him if I go. But he's, he kissed the badge, didn't he? And I'm not badge kissing myself, but he was positively smooching it.

Yeah, it's not something that you do if you're still haggling over the last sort of image rights payment or whatever in a contract. Sometimes when players join a club, look at Fernando Torres. Fernando Torres joined Liverpool 2007, seemed to absolutely love it, was idolised, worshipped, sort of gave the impression that he was home.

And look, admittedly, Liverpool were terrible at that point when he left. And you could understand him feeling his ambitions weren't going to be reached. But it's... If Hudson's humanity have to leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he kind of soured that by kind of... I mean, he really kind of burnt his bridges, didn't he? And he sort of made clear that...

I was there when he was unveiled at Chelsea and he sort of said, oh yeah, well, at the end of the day, it's a business. The romance of football is overrated. You just play for whoever you're playing for. And I felt like Torres changed over that period, but

Van Dijk, I think, I think his commitment to being a Liverpool icon, not just a Liverpool player, but to being an icon. Same with Salah. They both could have, you know, this is an era where you can get massive, massive, massive money by, more money by going elsewhere. Saudi Arabia is the obvious answer. But, you know, clearly didn't either of them have any interest in that, which is,

commendable because you know they they both feel settled family-wise they both feel feel totally settled and engaged with the project that you know the team that they're involved in and sort of emotional emotionally attached to the club and and yeah i think if you look at the outcome uh of the of the three contract negotiations obviously trent is the um the sort of

elephant in the room but it's a different story isn't it maybe story for another day yeah well james i think briefly that would be a good point to finish on um where do you think well i mean we've been fairly consistent very consistent on what we think is going to happen with trends and um are there any updates is there any news on that is there anything you've you know snuffled out that

Snuffled out? Yeah, yeah. I was thinking like... I didn't know that was in my job description. Yeah, I was thinking like a pig looking for truffles. Oh, no. I mean, when I look at you, James, I don't think of a pig looking for truffles. Wow, this is...

Just so offensive. Well, all right, I might a little bit, but that's when I wouldn't slip down to my darkest thoughts. Oh, dear. I was just thinking, actually, of you being offensive, Tony, was reminding me of

some of the offensive replies I had on Twitter last week to saying that Van Dijk's contract wouldn't be announced on the same day as Salah's, which I just thought people might want to know that that wasn't, you know, not to be on standby all day because it wasn't going to happen. But that provoked some remarkable peaks of fury. The one that made me...

The one that made me laugh more than any other was it said, I bet Pierce is the kind of parent that when the ice cream van comes down his street, he tells his kids, not today, there's choc-ices in the fridge. Or in the freezer, even. I mean, they wouldn't last very long in the fridge, would they? Well, let's face it, they wouldn't last very long if you could get your hands on them. Wow. So anyway, back to Trent. Yeah.

No, there's no, no. I mean, some people have said to me, like, would, do you think, what kind of impact does this have on Trent in terms of, do you think Salah and Van Dijk staying and seeing, you know, the adulation that Salah received at Anfield at the start of Sunday's game? And then, of course, the adulation that Van Dijk received, you know, kissing the badge, you know,

after that dramatic late winner, do you think that'll have any impact in terms of a late U-turn? I can't see it. I just, I think these things, you know, it's,

you know, I think, I think it's been the direction of travel on all three has been so clear for so long that there's always, there's always that confidence internally that Van Dyke and Salah would end up staying, but that Trent was a different case because of all the reasons we've spoken about previously. So, um, yeah, of course at the minute with Trent being out injured, it's kind of taken the spotlight away from that, hasn't it? And, um,

And, you know, it was great to see Connor Bradley back out there, you know, making his first start for what must have been the best part of two months.

So, yeah, it'd be interesting to see whether Trent does get back onto the pitch before the end of the season. That certainly is. The last time I heard was that he was hoping back end of this month. But, yeah, and of course, once Van Dijk's contract has been announced, I think then inevitably the kind of focus will shift back onto how does that kind of Trent saga kind of reach a conclusion in terms of

any public announcements because, you know, for all the talk and everything else so far, you know, there hasn't been anything official. Yeah, well, of course, social media will blame you for that. Of course, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I take full responsibility. So that's it from Walk On, your Liverpool podcast brought to you by The Athletic. Thanks to James and Ollie for joining me and you for listening. We'll be back later in the week before the Leicester game. We'll catch you then. Bye.

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