Liverpool's wage bill will skyrocket if talks over massive summer deals are successful

Liverpool are planning five new contract renewals for key players as the clubs prioritises holding onto current stars over signing new ones this summer.

Ibrahima Konate's five-year contract will cost Liverpool a total of £18.2million and he's on a relatively low weekly wage of £70,000 while Mohamed Salah, who already earns £200,000/week, has a contract that, over five years, is worth a staggering £52million.

Any increases to the Reds' wage bill have the potential to unsteady the club's finances and with reported plans for a wave of contract renewals for key players, Liverpool's wage bill is set to skyrocket.

According to the Liverpool Echo, "new deals for the likes of Mohamed Salah, Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk are in the pipeline later this summer."

While contract renewals are important, I can already imagine the backlash if they spend most of their budget on improving their current stars' terms over signing new players as some fans these days place a higher value on making reinforcements over retaining current performers.

The five players in line to start contract talks form Liverpool's spine and while they're not the only important players in the side, they are some of the most important in Klopp's team for sure.

For me, extending Virgil van Dijk's stay at Anfield has to be the most important of the lot given his huge impact on this side while Mohamed Salah is a close second even if he isn't as highly appreciated as he should be by those not connected to Liverpool.

The Egyptian carried Liverpool this season while van Dijk was injured, scoring 22 Premier League goals (the most at the club by a huge margin) and narrowly missed out on the Golden Boot as Harry Kane scored 23.

Purely for his miracle goal against West Bromwich Albion, Alisson Becker deserves a new contract!

In all seriousness though, the Brazilian shot-stopper is world-class and at 28, he's still quite young for a goalkeeper with Manuel Neuer still one of the best goalkeepers in the world despite being 35.

Liverpool could sort out their first-choice goalkeeper for the next five years by offering Ali a new long-term deal.

Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold have demonstrated their class once again this season even without the stability of having Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez or Joel Matip sweeping up at the back.

While Liverpool's wage bill will skyrocket with these extensions, if they go according to plan, Klopp will have the tools to win more silverware at Anfield and that's all that should matter to supporters.