View: https://x.com/_pauljoyce/status/1899792804663935083
Virgil van Dijk has admitted he remains in the dark as to whether he will still be a Liverpool player next season with no breakthrough in talks to extend his contract.
The Liverpool captain’s deal expires in the summer and despite negotiations with the club having been in progress for several months, the
33-year-old said his future remained mired in uncertainty.
Van Dijk added that anyone purporting to know how the talks would resolve themselves was a liar and maintained his only focus was ensuring Liverpool lift two trophies from their final ten games of the campaign.
The situation means Tuesday night’s Champions League penalty shoot-out defeat by Paris Saint-Germain could have been his last European game for the club.
Discussions are continuing and, asked whether he would sign a deal, Van Dijk said: “I have no idea. I still have no idea at the moment. Genuinely. I have no idea at the moment.
“It is not on hold. Nothing on hold. There’s just . . . I keep saying the same thing.
“Listen, there are ten games to go, and that is my full focus. If there is news, you guys will know it. I don’t even know myself. Everyone knows there are some conversations behind the scenes but that is about it.
“At the moment, I don’t even know what will happen next year. If anyone says they do know, they are lying to your face.”
Van Dijk was spotted speaking to PSG’s chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and sporting director Luís Campos, with whom he had clashed during the first leg at the Parc des Princes, in the Anfield tunnel after the game as the disappointment of bowing out in the round of 16 began to sink in.
Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are in the same position as Van Dijk, with their deals expiring at the end of the season.
While the 26-year-old right back Alexander-Arnold — who will undergo scans on the ankle injury he sustained against PSG — has an offer from Real Madrid, Salah, 32, has repeatedly stated that his future is also up in the air.
View: https://x.com/GFFN/status/1899796812598251751
Al-Khelaifi and Van Dijk have a strong, long-running relationship, RMC Sport understands and it was this pair that began talking before Campos then joined. The Dutch international then apologised to Campos for comments made during the first leg at the Parc des Princes.
With the PSG sporting director fuming at the decision not to send off Ibrahima Konaté after a collision with Bradley Barcola, Van Dijk said, “It’s not Ligue 1, bro”. As well as this apology, the Dutchman went on to praise PSG for their performance.
Van Dijk told Al-Khelaifi and Campos that Les Parisiens were not only the best team he had faced this season but in the past three seasons. The trio then discussed “other situations” and PSG’s leadership “particularly enjoyed” the conversation with the Liverpool captain.
