Liverpool stand on the edge of a pivotal summer, no matter how the final league table looks or where the Champions League anthem is played next season.
Arne Slot’s first full campaign has veered away from the early title talk, but the pressure has not eased. It has simply changed shape. Now it is about clinging to a top‑four place, squeezing every last point from the run‑in, and quietly preparing for a rebuild that is already unavoidable.
Salah’s farewell and a defence in flux
One truth is already baked into Liverpool’s future: Mohamed Salah will not be at Anfield beyond this summer. The club’s most reliable source of goals in the modern era is heading for the exit, and there is no obvious like-for-like replacement waiting in the wings. You do not simply replace Salah; you redesign the attack around what comes next.
At the other end of the pitch, uncertainty lingers. Ibrahima Konaté has yet to decide on his future. If the Frenchman opts to move on, Liverpool’s recruitment team will be forced into the market for at least one centre-back. That is not a luxury signing. It is structural work on a back line that has already shown signs of strain in a faltering title defence.
Midfield could also be torn open again. A standout performer in Serie A has been linked as a potential solution should Liverpool choose to add more power and legs in the middle of the park. The name is on the radar; the decision will rest on who stays, who goes, and how aggressively the club choose to reshape Slot’s engine room.
FA Cup test before the final push
Before any of that, there is the matter of silverware and momentum.
Liverpool return from the international break and walk straight into a test of nerve: an FA Cup quarter-final against last season’s beaten finalists, Manchester City. It is the kind of tie that can bruise a season or ignite it. Seven league games remain after that, and a statement win in any competition could spill over into the Premier League run-in.
Slot knows this. So do the players. The margins at the top are thin, and form in March and April often decides what kind of conversations take place in June and July.
Thuram on the radar – and a crowded race
In Italy, the talk is about Khephren Thuram.
The Juventus midfielder, son of France legend and 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram, has caught the eye in Serie A and drawn serious interest from England. Reports there say Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle United are all primed to move for the 25‑year‑old.
Juve picked him up from Nice in 2024 for a fee of less than £20 million. That figure already looks like a bargain. Any club trying to prise him away from Turin this summer will be paying significantly more.
United and Newcastle both stare at potential midfield overhauls. Casemiro has already confirmed he will leave Old Trafford, ripping out a chunk of United’s experience at the base of midfield. Newcastle’s situation could twist again if they miss out on Europe and reassess the role of Sandro Tonali once his suspension ends.
Liverpool’s variables are different but just as complex. The shape of Slot’s midfield, the budget freed by departures, and the club’s willingness to go toe-to-toe financially with direct rivals will decide whether Thuram becomes a live target or just another name in a long list of “what ifs”.
Van Dijk under fire – and fiercely defended
While transfer talk swirls, one Liverpool figure has dominated headlines for a different reason.
Virgil van Dijk, who captained Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, has found his form and leadership questioned as this campaign has unravelled. The scrutiny has been sharp, sometimes wild, and it has not gone unnoticed outside England.
Dutch pundit Hans Kraay Jr launched a fierce defence of the centre-back, taking aim at what he sees as the wild swings of British opinion.
“In England, the analysts, columnists, and the self-proclaimed know-it-alls have completely lost their minds,” he wrote in Voetbal International. He pointed to how, after just four league matches this season, Van Dijk was being talked about as the best central defender the Premier League had ever seen. Four games later, and two Arne Slot defeats after that, the same voices were effectively writing off his career.
“In short: Virgil van Dijk’s career was almost over,” Kraay Jr noted, underlining the absurdity of the narrative whiplash.
Van Dijk, now 34, has hardly disappeared. During the Netherlands’ recent international double-header he started both games, scoring in a win over Norway and then playing the first 45 minutes against Ecuador before making way for Micky van de Ven at half-time. He remains central for club and country, even as the noise around him grows louder.
A club on the brink of change
So Liverpool move into the decisive stretch of the season with questions stacked on every side. Salah’s departure is locked in. Konaté’s future hangs in the balance. Midfield targets like Thuram are being weighed up against needs elsewhere. The captain finds himself at the heart of a debate that says as much about modern punditry as it does about his defending.
The next few weeks will decide more than a league position or a cup run. They will shape how bold Liverpool dare to be when the window opens and the rebuild truly begins.
