The striker in the middle of a contractual deadlock appeared before Arne Slot at a delicate moment and made his impatience clear.
He told his manager that there were many suitors across Europe who wanted to take him away and give him the platform (and financial rewards) he believed he deserved. These types of conversations can destabilize a football team and disturb its figurehead, but Slot listened and took it all in stride.
Slot may seem like a 'Steady Eddie', someone whose words don't tend to do the bidding of a headline writer, but behind the scenes, in the sanctuary of the dressing room, he knows what to say and when to say it. . On this occasion his message was crystal clear.
“Everything you tell me can be resolved in the future. The clubs that love you will always be there,” he told his main source of goals. 'But now? “Now we have trophies to win.”
No, this was not a snapshot of a scene at Liverpool's AXA training base and a candid conversation involving Mo Salah, but the synopsis of a problem Slot faced with Santiago Giménez, the Mexican firecracker who had been an integral part of the 2022-23 Feyenoord season. Eredivisie winning team.
Before the start of last season, Giménez was starting to get restless but Slot couldn't afford to lose him, at least if he wanted to achieve his goals for the team. Then a solution was reached: Giménez was convinced, signed a contract extension and Feyenoord won the KNVB Cup in April.
Arne Slot faces dilemma at Anfield with three Liverpool stars on deals expiring this year
Trent Alexander-Arnold is pursued by Spanish side Real Madrid in the January window
However, the situation on Merseyside will not bring any terror to the Dutch coach.
The situation he currently faces in Liverpool, then, will not cause him any fear. Reporters on the futures of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been asked for more than just weather forecasts and, in some areas of the club, this has led to growing exasperation.
Slot, however, has remained optimistic and that is because he has not lost sight of the most important thing on the horizon: the trophies.
First in the league at national and European level, 180 minutes away from their first trip to Wembley, this is the position every manager would want to be in.
Many Liverpool fans could do with following the head coach's mantra. The desperation for clarity about what the future holds for three men who have been kingpins for much of the last decade is obvious and understandable, but it risks becoming overwhelming and distracting.
With the greatest respect to Salah, van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, what matters is not whether they will get down to business tomorrow, next week, next month or not. There are great prizes to be won and only unity and concentration will make it possible to achieve those goals.
At Anfield on Sunday, in that thrilling 2-2 draw with Manchester United, you could feel the impatience creeping up the stands like ivy, sprouting in different directions when passes went wrong or attacks failed. Alexander-Arnold, thanks to Real Madrid's prank last week, took the brunt of it.
Slot may have been surprised by the attention his right-back attracted afterwards but, as someone who is always trying to educate himself, he will have learned another lesson about how unique Merseyside is in terms of his views and expectations of football. .
When you are born in the area and play for one of the clubs, different rules apply. Only men like Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman, Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley will appreciate what Alexander-Arnold is going through as he looks beyond the city limits and wonders what's next.
Slot found himself in a similar situation at Feyenoord with striker Santiago Giménez.
Some players will appreciate what Alexander-Arnold is going through as he looks to leave.
“I'm fine with this,” Van Dijk said, when asked about the noise on Sunday. 'Trent has his own people around him, his family and we are there too. You want to perform at your best, as we all do. That is the main focus. In my opinion, maybe ask him, that's the distraction… the game.'
Who knows? Perhaps the experience against United and the dissection that followed will bring the England international a little closer to Spain. We don't know, as he does not speak publicly about his contract unlike Salah, who for six weeks has provided continuous commentary.
His latest proclamation came via Sky Sports when he revealed that this would be the last time he would play against United. All of this has been very effective, as it has awakened emotions in the fans in a way never seen before to the point that one wonders if some value his signature more than a trophy.
Another three years for Salah or an 11th League Cup? Pose that question on social media and the answers would make for fascinating reading when, in reality, Bill Shankly's mantra – “Liverpool Football Club exists to win trophies” – should be the only thing that matters.
To be clear, there is no suggestion that any of the three would do what Lutsharel Geertruida, a Dutch international wanted by Aston Villa last summer but now playing for RB Leipzig, threatened to do with Slot in the summer of 2022. .
Liverpool fans made their feelings known about the contractual uncertainty of their three stars
Former Feyenoord star Lutsharel Geertruida similarly threatened to leave Slot
Geertruida dropped the kind of bombshell against his manager before the start of that campaign that could have ruined everything. He was going to go on strike to get the move he wanted, but Slot handled things meticulously and made the athletic defender a key component in his plans.
Geertruida was so influential that he played 41 times in the campaign and scored three goals, propelling him into the Netherlands national team for the first time. He listened to Slot, wanted to learn from him and the reward for patience came.
It may be like that for this trio too. They are determined winners and one suspects that Graeme Souness may see something of himself in them, having been able to play with freedom and desire in 1984, even though his contract was expiring and a move to Italy was in the offing.
Souness led Liverpool to the First Division title, their fourth European Cup and, for good measure, scored the decisive goal in the League Cup final play-off against Everton. Medals and glory really mattered, everything else was irrelevant. What was true 40 years ago should be true now.