Gary Neville sends £250m Liverpool transfer warning as Arne Slot given 'hell of a thing'

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has told Liverpool they will have no chance of replacing Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer

Liverpool have been told they won't be able to splash out the £250million needed this summer if they are forced to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. The Reds are expected to be busy during the forthcoming transfer window as they continue to evolve a squad under Arne Slot that currently stands 12 points clear at the Premier League summit with nine games remaining.

Much will depend on the futures of Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk, who are all out of contract at the end of the season and as it stands will leave on a free transfer.

Both Salah and Van Dijk have intimated they want to stay at Liverpool with talks ongoing between the club and their respective representatives. Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, is pondering an offer from Real Madrid, with the Champions League holders increasingly confident the player will move to the Bernabeu.

And Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believes Slot will be placed in an unenviable position if the trio all depart Anfield in the coming months.

“At the end of the season, it will leave Liverpool a huge hole if those three players leave on a free," he said.

"They won’t have the money to replace them, and you could argue there is a quarter of a billion pounds in those three. You’re talking about one of the best strikers in Europe, one of the best centre-halves in Europe and one of the best right-backs in Europe."

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville added: “Even as good as Liverpool have been in recruitment, that is a quarter-billion-pound hole. They’ve been good at recruitment so they could replace them, but that is a hell of a thing for Arne Slot to have to deal with.”