Liverpool linchpins to liabilities? Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk form drops radically after golden handcuff deals

Liverpool linchpins to liabilities? Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk form drops radically after golden handcuff deals

Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah have gone off the boil since signing lucrative contracts at Liverpool

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have acquired almost an armour-plating at Liverpool, with both so impervious to criticism that the club decided last summer to grant them two of the most lucrative contract extensions in the history of English football.

Salah’s alone is worth £50m until 2027, while the captain is scarcely the poor relation on £350,000 a week. While their signatures were heralded at the time as a triumph of patient negotiation, the money felt faintly obscene for two players with a combined age of 67. Sure enough, their contributions to a shambolic display agains