If Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah are feeling tense about their respective contract situations at Liverpool, you wouldn’t know it by their antics on the training ground on Monday!
Melissa Reddy has voiced her belief that the duo will soon agree new deals at Anfield, with Trent Alexander-Arnold also little more than six months out from the end of his existing terms on Merseyside.
The trio were involved in team training in Kirkby this lunchtime prior to flying out to Spain for the Champions League clash against Girona on Tuesday evening, and it’s fair to say that spirits are high among Arne Slot’s squad as they seek to preserve their 100% record in Europe this season.
Van Dijk and Salah high jinks in Liverpool training
In one piece of training ground footage shared online this afternoon, Van Dijk can be seen grabbing hold of Rio Ngumoha – 17 years his junior – during one drill and tossing him aside as if he were removing bags from the luggage carrier on the team bus.
There was another funny moment among the Liverpool squad in Kirkby as Salah snuck up on an unsuspecting Harvey Elliott and cheekily kicked him in the rear end twice, much to the 21-year-old’s amusement and bemusement.
The mood seems nice and upbeat at Liverpool
The Reds have serious business to which they must attend against Girona tomorrow, with a response to last week’s disappointing draw at Newcastle being sought, but the players clearly seem to be in jovial mood ahead of their trip to Catalonia.
Liverpool couldn’t be in a more favourable position in the Champions League, with five wins out of five so far and a couple more points from their three remaining matches surely being enough to take them straight into the round of 16 in March.
Victory at the Estadi Montilivi would remove any great pressure from the matches against Lille and PSV Eindhoven next month, while also getting LFC back on a winning note after the slip-up at St James’ Park.
The training ground antics also suggest that Van Dijk and Salah are very much enjoying life on Merseyside and feeling relaxed not just about the team’s form on the pitch, but also their respective individual futures amid the ongoing contractual saga.
Let’s hope that everyone connected with Liverpool has a reason to smile when the full-time against Girona blows on Tuesday!
You can check out the training ground antics below, via @trentpivot and @NaiiLFC on X (formerly Twitter):
virgil and rio pic.twitter.com/QBCJRzOZXp
— hae (@trentpivot) December 9, 2024
Harvey is so done with Salah he doesn’t even react pic.twitter.com/juXxa1zVOA
— Nuna (@NaiiLFC) December 9, 2024
