Liverpool has received widespread praise for convincing Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk that their futures lie at Anfield.

But there have been a handful of naysayers, questioning the wisdom of new deals for players in their 30s — Man City's failure to offer fresh terms to Kevin De Bruyne has thrown that perspective into sharper relief, and Jamie Carragher has now weighed in.

More than anything else, the negative responses to extensions for Salah and Van Dijk simply go to show that you can't please everyone.



But De Bruyne is one of the very few players who has been up there with Salah and Van Dijk over the last few years as a genuine figurehead of the league (the trio may well even be out on their own in this regard), and Man City has sent him packing with barely a second thought.

Premier League rivals ‘hold discussion’ over Kevin De Bruyne signing	Mikel Arteta bemoans key Arsenal issue after Liverpool moves within point of title	Virgil van Dijk makes prediction for potential Arsenal vs Crystal Palace title decider

The Etihad side is typically more free-spending than Liverpool, and yet it has made a ruthless call over one of its all-time legends.

"When you look at players like Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk now, who are a similar age to Kevin De Bruyne, they play every week," Carragher noted on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.

"When you start paying them the big money, you know you’re getting 40 to 50 games a season; unfortunately, with Kevin De Bruyne, he doesn’t play like that.

"Kevin De Bruyne is one of my favourite players — but I can understand where the club are coming from.

De Bruyne has played 1,457 Premier League minutes this season, marginally less than half of the 2,930 that Salah has played (it's 2,970 for Van Dijk)