Star tells Liverpool he ‘urgently’ wants to sign new contract, but Reds will make him wait

A senior Liverpool star ‘urgently’ wants to sign a contract extension at Anfield, though why the club will make him wait has been revealed.

The headlines at Liverpool this season have been dominated by two things – the club’s quest for a 20th league title and player contracts.

Regarding the latter, the pressure is on sporting director Richard Hughes to iron out fresh agreements with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. The trio are all out of contract in the summer.

However, with Liverpool’s attention tied up with those three superstars, a handful of other deals have been put on the backburner.

A new deal for Ibrahima Konate has been put on hold for the time being. That’s alerted PSG to a potential opportunity and reports claim Konate is open to returning to the city of his birth.

Elsewhere, Luis Diaz – who remains on the terms he agreed upon joining from FC Porto three years ago – is desperate to secure a pay rise.

That’s according to an update from TBR Football who claim the winger’s camp have informed Liverpool Diaz wants a new deal sorting as a matter of urgency.

Diaz is a regular starter for the Reds, be it on the left wing or up front. Yet despite his importance to Arne Slot and co, Diaz remains somewhat modestly paid by modern footballing standards. His current salary is just £55,000-a-week.

But while Diaz is more than willing to sign on the dotted line, the report claims Liverpool ‘won’t be rushed into finalising new terms.’ For the time being, it’s Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Salah who are taking priority.

Nonetheless, TBR Football insisted Liverpool are open to extending Diaz’s stay when the time is right and with the player desperate to re-sign, a new deal should eventually be thrashed out.

Latest Liverpool news – Salah contract, Darwin sale

In other news, Mohamed Salah also intends to sign a new contract at Anfield, according to CaughtOffside.

Accordingly, negotiations between Liverpool chiefs and Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, are said to have ‘intensified’ in recent days.

But before an extension can be sealed, Liverpool must reportedly offer Salah a wage increase. The Egyptian winger currently earns £350,000-a-week.

Elsewhere, Arne Slot could not hide his frustration when dissecting Darwin Nunez’s stunning miss in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

“What I saw was an unbelievable pass from Conor Bradley,” began Slot. “And what a power run from Dominik Szoboszlai.

“Who made in my opinion the perfect choice to square it because from a one-v-one with the goalkeeper he made it an open goal chance.

“Yeah… and then Darwin was of course… it was not his best, he’s right-footed of course, but it was still a big chance.

“And yeah… very unlucky and I was hoping that he could’ve got another one because a player like him wouldn’t miss two chances in a row and he was very close afterwards when he went close to Martinez again, but he made a great sliding tackle to win the ball.

“I think we’re all disappointed but it’s normal that a player that missed a chance like this is always a bit more disappointed than the rest.”

According to Fabrizio Romano, the expectation within the industry is Liverpool will sell Nunez to the Saudi Pro League in the summer.

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