The future of Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk remains clouded in uncertainty. The trio just have under five months remaininng on the contracts, which expire on June 30, 2025. Neither have signed an extension yet.
Alexander-Arnold continues to be strongly linked to a summer move to Real Madrid. Liverpool’s management have failed to agree a new deal with either Salah or Van Dijk. However, an interesting development around the Anfield stadium has piqued speculation over the two senior Liverpool players’ futures.
Following Arne Slot’s side’s shocking exit from the FA Cup by losing to Plymouth, some people noticed changes being made to the outer structure of Anfield. It seems like work is being done to add a new Mohamed Salah poster to the famous ‘Kop End’ mural part of the stadium.
An image of Salah celebrating a goal from earlier in the 2024/25 season is replacing a previous image of Luis Diaz. Moreover, a brand new animated mural featuring club captain Van Dijk is also being installed in that area. There is a huge image of Van Dijk holding his hand over the Liverpool club crest.
Beside him an inspired club slogan is attached that reads ‘More than just a symbol, it stands for everything we are’. The Liverbird from the club crest is also featured in the big poster, with Liverpool pushing Salah and Van Dijk as part of the makeover of the outer design of Anfield.
These changes have excited some fans, who feel it’s an early sign that the club might’ve agreed or are close to agreeing contract extensions for both the superstars. One supporter even noted ‘Surely this means something.. ? FSG would never spend money on this only for them to go in 4 months’ time.’
However, there isn’t any proof backing all this speculation. The fact of the matter is that clubs often make changes to posters or advertisements in the outer ring of their stadium. This is often done to bring a sense of freshness and authenticity, as well as making the place look more glamorous for the visiting fans.
Liverpool have a number of important home matches going forward. This includes playing in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds. To ensure those nights look even more attractive, they’ve updated the stadium’s design with something more eye-catching.
There are also some past examples of how these posters changes don’t mean much for a player’s long-term future. When Raheem Sterling left Liverpool to join Manchester City in 2015, his appearance was still attached to the advertising mural in the outer structure of Anfield. In fact, it took some-time before his face was removed from that area following his exit.
Luis Suarez also infamously featured in Liverpool’s home kit launch campaign for the 2014/15 season. He ended up pushing for a move to Barcelona in the summer of 2014. Hence, there isn’t any guarantee that just because Salah and Van Dijk’s updated murals have been attached to Anfield that they’re 100% going to stay.
Salah told Sky Sports in January (2025) that he’s still far away from signing a new contract with Liverpool and has also indicated he feels this will be his final season at Anfield. Virgil van Dijk hinted after the win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup semi-final that it’s ‘absolutely wrong’ to speculate that he’s already signed a contract extension.
It’s clear that neither Salah nor Van Dijk have signed new long-term deals yet. When (or if) they do, Liverpool are probably going to celebrate in a more grand fashion than just placing their posters on the Anfield mural.
