Trent Alexander-Arnold has gone, Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson will soon follow, and it is likely that Alisson and Virgil van Dijk will at most spend just one more year at the club. So, just how much experience are Liverpool losing?
Liverpool have had some fantastic players in the last decade, and enjoyed plenty of success.
In recent years, they have gradually said goodbye to the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, but they have also retained a number of their established stars.
There is an argument that each of Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah would get into the all-time Liverpool XI of many Reds fans, or at least be in the conversation. That is quite the achievement considering the club’s rich heritage and, as recently as last season, all five were still at the club as Liverpool strolled to the Premier League title.
Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid last summer, though, and it has been confirmed that Salah and Robertson will also depart at the end of this season.
There are question marks over the future of Alisson as well, despite his one-year option being triggered, with links to Juventus gathering pace, while Van Dijk turns 35 this summer and will then be entering the final year of his contract.
Arne Slot has commented multiple times on the importance of a team staying together, and how having a consistent squad is the key to consistent performances.
Liverpool have proven that in recent years. They won the league in Slot’s first season after only making one signing the previous summer in Federico Chiesa, and not losing any major players outside of Thiago Alcântara and Joël Matip, neither of whom played much in their final campaign at Anfield in 2023-24 due to injury.
However, until scientists discover the secrets to age-reversing technology, the passage of time is inevitable, and all good things must come to an end.
Liverpool have struggled this season, and for more reasons than just Alexander-Arnold and Luis Díaz moving on. The tragic loss of Diogo Jota last July was devastating for everyone at the club, while injuries, slow starts for several new signings, and too many players being in poor form at the same time have meant consistency has been hard to come by.
With at least two more club legends on their way out this summer, it feels like the end of an era. Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Robertson and Salah were all a big part of last season’s title-winning squad, and their experience of winning it five years earlier no doubt helped.
They are all in the top 12 for Premier League appearances for Liverpool, while they’re also all in the top eight for Champions League appearances for the club. But there is a chance that by the start of next season, only Van Dijk will remain.
Salah (313) and Robertson (273) are fifth and seventh respectively for most Premier League appearances for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold had 259 before he departed for Madrid (10th most).
It’s not just their individual experience, but their experience of playing alongside one another. Robertson and Salah have played 257 Premier League games together; only 15 duos have played together more in Premier League history. That’s more often than Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka for Everton (252), Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney for Manchester United (247), and David Seaman and Lee Dixon for Arsenal (243).
Van Dijk appears to be sticking around for at least the final year of his contract next season, and he will undoubtedly miss Robertson and Salah. He’s played 246 Premier League games alongside Salah, spraying countless cross-field balls to the Egyptian from left to right, and 219 games next to Robertson in Liverpool’s back four.
Alisson has played with Salah 236 times in the Premier League, Robertson 213 times, and Van Dijk 212 times, having already lost Alexander-Arnold as part of his defence, with whom he played with 206 times.
Building up that rapport matters. Getting used to the league is one thing, but learning how to play with your teammates is equally as important.
Florian Wirtz arrived to great fanfare last summer and there have been a few examples of his immense talent, but it feels like the German is still getting used to playing in a different system with different players.
The same is true of Alexander Isak, who had already played and scored plenty of times in the Premier League when he arrived at Anfield. While fitness and injuries haven’t helped the Swede, he also doesn’t look to be on the same wavelength as his teammates just yet. Both Wirtz and Isak scoring in the 3-1 win over Crystal Palace last Saturday may have hinted at progress, but that familiarity will only come with more games.
Milos Kerkez was clearly bought from Bournemouth last summer to be Robertson’s long-term replacement at left-back, and after a slow start, the Hungarian has grown into the role in recent months. Robertson has shown in recent weeks that he can still offer plenty when called upon, though, and having him to deputise for Kerkez has been invaluable as Liverpool have cemented their place in the top five in the Premier League.
This is not to say that Liverpool have made the wrong moves. Wirtz, Isak and Kerkez came in last summer along with Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Hugo Ekitiké, and all have at least shown glimpses of what they can do, though unfortunately Ekitiké will be out for several months with a ruptured Achilles.
Turnover and churn is necessary for any squad, and there are strong arguments that it is indeed the right time for Salah and Robertson to move on.
However, Liverpool are still showing some reliance on experience. Despite being 34 years of age, Van Dijk has made the most appearances of any Reds player this season in the Premier League (34), and the joint-most in all competitions alongside Alexis Mac Allister (51).
Not including stoppage time, the Reds captain has played 4,581 minutes in all competitions, the most of any player from Europe’s top five leagues. It’s already more minutes than any Liverpool player accrued in the whole of the 2024-25 season, when Salah racked up the most (4,497).
Salah went off with a hamstring issue in the win over Palace on Saturday, though Liverpool confirmed on Wednesday that he will be fit to take the field at least one more time before the end of the season. Salah could therefore add to his none-too-shabby 257 goals in 440 games for the club.
He has scored 46 of Liverpool’s 214 goals (excluding own goals) under Slot, or 21.5%. That is a lot of goals to be losing, and the Reds have found out at times this season how much more difficult things can be when Salah isn’t finding the net.
Liverpool have lost experienced players before, though. In fact, the two players to have played together the most in Premier League history are Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard (383 games). Carragher left in the summer of 2013, while Gerrard did so two years later. The year after Carragher departed, Liverpool almost won the league, while Gerrard’s exit came just before the Jürgen Klopp era, which brought so much success.
Obviously, that wasn’t because Carragher and Gerrard left. The main reason Liverpool didn’t win the title in 2013-14 was because they conceded 50 goals, while Klopp has said several times how much he would have loved to have worked with Gerrard.
Of the current squad, after Salah, Robertson, Van Dijk and Alisson, it is Curtis Jones who has the most appearances for the club (224), and he’s also being linked with a move away in the summer, somewhat ironically, because he isn’t getting enough games.
Between the four of them, Salah, Robertson, Van Dijk and Alisson have 1,518 appearances for Liverpool. That’s more than the rest of their teammates who have played at least one senior game this season combined (1,494).
That’s not to say the squad is otherwise inexperienced. Many have played plenty of games for other clubs, with the likes of Kerkez, Mac Allister and Isak having a decent amount of Premier League experience before joining the Reds.
But the level of familiarity with playing for Liverpool that Salah and Robertson have will be missing. Players who know inside and out what it takes to represent the club, to carry the expectations, to perform for a passionate fanbase that will hold them to the highest standards, but love them beyond reason if they meet those standards.
The problem is, of course, you can’t sign that – unless of course you re-sign old players but that somewhat defeats the point of building for the future. You have to develop it in your current squad.
Van Dijk can carry a large amount of the mantle for another season, and it may be that Liverpool hold onto Alisson for the final year of his deal, too. Unless the Brazilian desperately wants to move now, the reported fee they would receive of £10-15 million hardly seems worth losing another experienced figure, let alone what he can still bring between the sticks.
Speaking to the media recently, Van Dijk said about Alisson’s future: “There is always going to be a day where you – including myself – will go. But if it’s going to happen – and I have no idea about [Alisson’s future] and I don’t think at this point he has an idea about it – then we will, as a club, adapt to that.
“We have been through everything together, positive things and some negative things unfortunately as well, so it would definitely be a big blow and a miss… He’s very important for me as one of the leaders in the team and I think he is very important on the pitch because I think he is one of the best – in my opinion the best – goalkeeper in the world.”
Liverpool currently have four players in the squad who have made at least 300 appearances for the club. By the start of the 2027-28 season, it’s possible they won’t have any.
Of course, those who have played more games are always likelier to be the ones to leave as that’s how the concept of time works, but will losing that much experience in a relatively short period make Liverpool’s rebuild even more difficult, or will it simply help fast-track an inevitably tricky process?
They will miss Salah and Robertson as individuals, but also what they bring as a duo who have been such a consistent part of one of Liverpool’s brightest modern periods. The same will also be true of Alisson and Van Dijk once they depart.
There is an instinct from many to fear change, but it is necessary. Liverpool have to build new stars, with the aim being that when they come to leave the club years from now, we’re having this exact conversation again.
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