Liverpool have 'confidence' that 'agreement can be struck' over double agreement- would cost over £83.2m

Kevin Palmer reports for the Sunday World that Liverpool are ready to hand Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk bumper deals until 2024.

After watching Virgil van Dijk ping the ball 60 yards to Mohamed Salah with his first touch at Anfield for 10 months, I am more excited for the new season than ever.

While Liverpool's rivals all seem hell-bent on spending more than each other, with the Manchester clubs and Chelsea all spending over £100million this summer, I am just happy to see the Reds back in action.

Jurgen Klopp says that the Reds could still make new signings and while that is very promising because the German rarely - if ever - talks about transfers, he has a squad that can start the season strongly without any new signings.

Writing for the Sunday World, Kevin Palmer reports that the Reds have 'confidence' that an 'agreement can be struck with the proposed salary increase now on the table' for Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

Both players have been offered contract extensions until 2024 and will be remunerated above the £200,000/week mark.

If signed, this will cost Liverpool over £83.2million in the next four years but given their importance to the club, it's vital that the club gets it done.

As we've seen with Fabinho, Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold signing new contracts in the last week, Liverpool have prioritised keeping key players over adding to the squad.

Salah, funnily enough, hasn't scored a single goal in pre-season but he was brilliant against Athletic and his trivela pass across goal to Diogo Jota would have been the highlight of pre-season had his teammate converted it.

What has me particularly excited - and this is the major advantage of having defenders like van Dijk that can play a high - is that Salah, Mane and Jota were never more than 5-10 yards inside Liverpool's half.

Last season, with slow defenders like Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams, Liverpool were forced deep into their own 18-yard area but with the return of Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and van Dijk and the arrival of Ibrahima Konate, Jurgen Klopp is able to station his team much higher up the field.