大家最近可能挺关心阿诺德和皇马的事儿，但估计短期内不会有啥实质性进展。

I think it's almost certain Trent leaves i expect virgil to stay and am fairly optimistic about Salah however wondering if the reason we haven't heard anything about any of them is that even if virgil had signed they might not wanna announce it early because they are trying to keep the pressure off what is happening with Trent and if they announce 1 signing then that brings up more questions and possibly tension regarding the other 2. I reckon we won't hear anything about any of them until just after the last game is played then a triple announcement of Trent leaving virgil staying and whatever mo decides. Unless real Madrid were announce trent before then which suppose would be within their rights as soon as he signs the pre contract

Ruins relationship with fans immediately


Half the fanbase is already grumbling—especially compared to Salah and Virgil, who are in no way obligated to take a sub-par deal from Liverpool but have established a narrative where if they stay it's because they wanted to and if they leave it's because the club fucked it all up—and if he leaves in May everyone's gonna see it like he strung us along and it's going to nuke his legacy worse than Michael Owen's.

If he was honest about leaving now, assuming that's how it does go in the end, he'd just be napalming his legacy a la Philippe Coutinho.

I mean dude can do what he wants but people absolutely loathe being made to feel like they were strung along/Plan B if/when they get ditched in the end.

I get everyone will always find a way to turn something like this into 5D Chess when it's probably just Checkers (see: this thread saying look at Big Brain Trent us plebs are too stupid to even comprehend his negotiating genius!), but if he's actually uncertain or likely to stay he doesn't seem to be playing this well from the outside in comparison to Salah and Van Dijk.

I do feel though, that the longer he waits to renew, the firmer the belief that he's leaving (especially with the stupid articles and media noise) and so fans will (and already have) begin to be poisoned against him. Thankfully we don't see it from fans at the game (as far as I'm aware, he's getting the backing he currently deserves), but definitely online.

As a fan, I'd love for all three to renew within the next month to avoid continuing to 'colour' our already pretty successful first season with a new manager - just feels like we keep getting weird non-updates that puts fans (mostly online) in a weird headspace, such as Mo's comments, such as Trent's celebration and the 6 million interpretations of it, such as Marca's BS articles etc.

On the other hand, some might say that is helping because it takes the focus away from how dominant we have been on the pitch, keeps us 'under the radar' for longer, although I'm seeing a lot more taking notice of that too now, and I don't think we're under the radar any more.

All that to say, mostly agree with all of that, and not expecting to hear anything for a few months, although as a fan, I wish we got the news that all 3 are renewing today, so we don't have to keep having that tiny worry in the back of our minds through all this.

The fact Perez has sent his dogs (Marca) loose gives me some hope that they aren't any closer to getting him than they were 3 months ago, seen this happen with Salah around his last contract extension and the Mbappe saga more recently before he re-signed with PSG. This is Perez we're talkin about though, he unsettles players and frankly with signing him on a free, even if he turns out to be a disaster for them or snaps his ACL on day 1 of training, he is in a position here to severely affect the harmony of the squad he knows are their UCL contenders this season. That alone would be worth the signing bonus and wages he will put on the table, not to mention, a bit of a quiet distaste for each other has been present over the last decade or so, it's a major PR win for him and a fat L for FSG if he manages to take one of our own for absolutely nothing in his prime, with his prime being world class.

If he's on the fence, they will put the pressure on with an ultimatum in this window, if he's leaning towards them already, the next round of negotiations with the club will be the last, if he/his agent are playing the contract game then we're going to hear nothing until it's signed. But i firmly believe, given how close he is with Jude, that Perez will know his state of mind and Jude will absolutely be acting as a mediator because he wants his mate with him, and due to that, if there is a chance he's undecided but more likely to stay, they will throw £20m at the problem in this window, knowing it'll be rejected, just to get the circus on the road

EDIT: Oh would you look at that, they've tried the good ol offer in Jan tactic. So predictable