Arne Slot said Liverpool will act in the club’s best interests should an offer arrive for Alisson this summer, putting the goalkeeper’s short-term future squarely on the table as he battles a muscle problem that has kept him out of the side.
Slot delivered the blunt line this week as Alisson, 33, remains Liverpool’s first-choice goalkeeper but has missed the past six games with a muscle problem and is a doubt for Saturday’s meeting with Crystal Palace. Liverpool recently triggered a 12-month option on his deal, keeping him at Anfield until June 2027, but recurring hamstring injuries over the past three seasons have thinned the margin for error.
“Well that is your opinion and I will bring that opinion to the ownership and to Richard,” Slot said when asked about Alisson’s future. He qualified the veteran’s value in the same interview: “It [experience] is definitely one argument to keep him but there are other arguments.” Slot added, “That is a decision the club has to make if that is needed,” and warned that, contractually, “In the end, he still has one year [on his contract].”
The numbers behind the question are stark and immediate. Alisson has been sidelined for Liverpool’s past six matches and has suffered several hamstring injuries across the last three seasons. Juventus are keen on signing Alisson, according to club interest reported this week, and Liverpool face a summer in which key figures will leave the squad — Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson will both depart at the end of the campaign — amplifying calls for fresh leadership on and off the pitch.
Virgil van Dijk this week called for a new leadership group to step up, a plea that sharpens the friction point Slot laid out: experience versus availability. Slot noted experience counts, but that it is only one argument among others for whether to keep a veteran whose availability has been patchy. That sets up a classic football trade-off for the owners and recruitment team: a proven, championship-winning hand with one year left on his contract versus the risk of repeated muscular problems and a possible high-value offer this summer.
The tension is not only at Liverpool. Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said of full-back Tino Livramento: “We will wait and see whether Tino plays again this season” after the youngster picked up a thigh problem against Bournemouth. That injury could jeopardize Livramento’s hopes of being part of a World Cup squad later this year. Newcastle will also be without Anthony Gordon for Saturday’s trip to Arsenal, with the forward sidelined by hip trouble.
On the field at Liverpool, the calculus is immediate. Alisson remains the starter when fit, and the club has used its 12-month option to extend his contract to June 2027 — facts that give the club room to weigh short-term need against long-term overhaul. Slot’s repeated message that he will pass opinions to the ownership and to Richard makes clear who will ultimately decide, but not how quickly a choice will be made.
For supporters and pundits alike, summer speculation will inevitably include younger goalkeepers and high-profile names; those conversations now orbit Alisson’s fitness, contract length and the changing dressing-room picture. Names from across Europe — from established veterans to up-and-coming keepers such as giorgi mamardashvili — will be discussed, but Slot has framed the issue as more than a ledger of years and clean sheets: experience matters, he said, “but there are other arguments.”
The most consequential unanswered question is straightforward: will Liverpool treat Alisson as a short-term asset to be preserved for immediate results, or will the club use this summer to pivot toward a new long-term plan now that Salah and Robertson are leaving? Slot has placed that decision with ownership and made clear the timeframe — Alisson still has one year on his contract — but for now the player’s availability and Juventus’s interest mean the answer could arrive sooner than the club would prefer.
