Arne Slot insists Liverpool’s season will not be derailed by the saga over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future.
Alexander-Arnold was the subject of a tentative enquiry from Real Madrid heading into the New Year which was swiftly rebuffed by Anfield chiefs.
The homegrown right-back is set to be out of contract at the end of this season, leading to fears that he could still make a move to the Bernabeu.
Teammates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are also scheduled to become free agents this summer with their own futures as yet unresolved.
But Slot believes that the uncertainty over all three players’ fates will not distract his side as they hold a six-point lead in the Premier League title race.
He said: “If it would destabilise players at Liverpool if other people talk about them then we would really have a problem.
“Because if you play at one of the biggest clubs in the world everybody is always – for 12 months long – talking about you, sometimes in relation to other clubs.
“That happens so, so many times for our players… so if that destabilises them, we really would have had a problem.
“Not only now but in the last six months because there were some talks about our players in the last six months and I don’t think it destabilised them at all.”
Addressing the vice-captain’s situation, Slot believes that Alexander-Arnold is still ‘fully committed’ to his boyhood club despite the ongoing situation.
“Everybody saw how great a first half of the season he had, how much he is here, how much he wants to win here,” added the Liverpool head coach.
“He played an incredible game against West Ham, we all remember the pass he gave to Mo.
‘I see him on the training ground every day working his ass off. He is fully committed to us and he will play on Sunday – if they don’t tell me he is sick – but I don’t expect them to.”
Liverpool are hopeful of Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley being involved for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United as they both return to training.
However Joe Gomez, who deputised at centre-back in Konate’s absence, is facing several weeks out with a hamstring injury picked up against West Ham.
