Arne Slot said he “cannot control” the private lives of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold after the trio played their final Liverpool match before they become free to negotiate with other clubs.
West Ham were routed 5-0 at the London Stadium to send Slot’s side eight points clear at the top of the Premier League with Salah and Alexander-Arnold amongst five different scorers.
All three players will be able to enter talks with foreign clubs as of January 1 as their contracts move into their final six months, with no sign of deals imminent, whilst Salah told Sky Sports “we are far away” when asked if there was any good news imminent on his contract talks.
“I think I have a lot of control over what they do if they’re on the training pitch, if there in a meeting with me,” said Slot. “But talking about their private lives, I don’t have control.
“That’s been the situation as a long as I’ve been a manager but I have control to an extent (in terms of) what I expect from them on the pitch. It’s really pleasing to see what Virgil brings, what Trent brings and what Mo brings.”
Asked by Sky Sports whether he expected good news for supporters soon, Salah said: “No, we are far away from that.
“I don’t want to put something in the media and people start saying stuff, but nothing really moved on. But now I’m focused on the team, hopefully we win the Premier League.”
That prospect looked increasingly after Liverpool swatted aside Julen Lopetegui’s shellshocked Hammers, easing to a three-goal lead at half-time thanks to goals from Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and a brilliant strike from Salah which caught out goalkeeper Alphonse Areola at his near post.
Salah’s most memorable contribution came with his assist for Liverpool’s second, producing an outrageous feint to spin the ball through the legs of defender Konstantinos Mavropanos before laying it off for Gakpo to finish.
Alexander-Arnold made it 4-0 with a long-range strike that deflected in off Max Kilman before substitute Diogo Jota hit Liverpool’s 14th goal in last three matches to make it five.
Slot said that, given the team’s strong position, there was unlikely to be much transfer activity in January.
“There’s nothing in the media yet about who we’re going to bring in? No? And also not in my mind,” he said. “I’m very happy with the squad we have, I said this six months ago and everybody was like ‘is this guy crazy?’
“But I think the players show the confidence the club and me had in them was all deserved. If you look at Jarell Quansah (who replaced the injured Joe Gomez in the first half), he hadn’t played a lot until now, a few appearances.
“The way he played to day shows how important it is that we keep working with these players, because we’re going to need all of them at a certain moment.”
Hammers boss Lopetegui reflected on sub-par performance against the league leaders.
“We did not compete as we were thinking to today or as the opponent Liverpool demands,” he said. “Today has been a tough day for us.
“We have played against one of the best teams in the world in this current moment, but it is true that we have to do much better.”
To add to West Ham’s problems, captain Jarrod Bowen hobbled out of the London Stadium after going off with an ankle injury.
