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Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk could leave Liverpool this summer(Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Jamie Carragher has suggested that Liverpool's recent Carabao Cup final defeat and Champions League exit could have a significant impact on Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

This leaves the Premier League as the sole trophy they can vie for in Arne Slot's debut season.

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Despite comfortably leading the Premier League - 12 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal with nine games remaining - club icon Carragher feels these cup competition losses could seriously affect Salah and Van Dijk's contract negotiations.

Both key players' contracts with Liverpool expire this summer, allowing them to engage in talks with clubs abroad until the end of the season.

After that, they will become free agents, able to join any club without Liverpool receiving compensation.

Alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold, also free to exit in the summer transfer window with no fee, they've been a topic of intense discussion behind the scenes of the Reds' league title push.

In an episode of It's Called Soccer!, Carragher expressed his concerns for the stalwart duo, believing the "PR battle" of having multiple trophies to compete for was on their side for a while.

But what those terms are we don't know.

Jamie Carragher is worried about the pair's contract situation(Image: YOUTUBE )

"My feeling and my worry is it kept feeling like Mo Salah and Van Dijk were winning the PR battle because Liverpool are top of the league, they had won every every game in the Champions League, there was talk about trebles, they're going to do this they're going to do that and in the last week you know [this hasn't happened].

"I hope this isn't the case, but maybe the people of the club are going, 'Is this a little sign of things to come in the future?

Is this Salah being off form or is this the is this the future of Salah' - and if they don't win as much are they in a stronger bargaining position to say 'We want more'?

"I don't know what they're asking for, but are the club now right to say, 'Hang on, we think you are only worth this [amount].

I mean you've [almost] won the league, we haven't won the Champions League, we haven't done that, you haven't won the Ballon d'Or'.

"I was actually thinking, I think this means the club are maybe not going to shift the goal posts at all, maybe only slightly, if you end up winning the league."

The Liverpool duo have been riding the "PR" wave, according to Carragher(Image: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

While the sting of the Carabao Cup defeat and the Champions League exit lingers for players and supporters alike, Salah and Van Dijk have remained silent regarding their contracts thus far - which is potentially a positive omen.

Recently, manager Slot acknowledged the lack of advancement in contract talks but mentioned the club's readiness for any outcome.
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