Mark Lawrenson predicts Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave Liverpool despite his success

“When you look at Trent, he's got a ready-made replacement from that point of view," he told FourFourTwo in association with Freebets.com, referring to Conor Bradley.

“The rumour mill about Trent is that he will be joining his mate [Jude Bellingham] at Real Madrid. If you had a chance, why wouldn't you want to go and play for Real Madrid?

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“He's won everything for Liverpool, so people can't turn around and say, ‘oh, I can't believe he's going, he should stay.’ He's been brilliant. Liverpool have lost top players in this particular way before and have always responded.”

The future of Virgil van Dijk has become clearer after news surfaced that the skipper had begun talks over a new contract, while Mohamed Salah has previously admitted this could be his last season at the club.

Lawrenson believes that tying down Van Dijk should be Liverpool’s number one priority and added, “You can't get Virgil Van Dijks anywhere; he's the captain and still an outstanding player. That's really, really important.

“Salah's a goal machine. Does he want one last club? That is quite possible. I'm not sure, as it's all very quiet about him.”

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Liverpool currently sit top of the Premier League and their legendary former defender is expecting a tense three-way tussle for the title alongside Manchester City and Arsenal.

“I think any one of those three sides can win it. Arsenal are having a few problems at the moment, with sendings off, but they're a very good side.

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“There's no doubt that City will be up there, but if they lose Haaland, that might be a major problem as they haven't really got a ready-made replacement for him.

“Liverpool are right up there, and it’s going to be a fight to the death among those three teams.”

Mark Lawrenson was speaking to FourFourTwo in association with Freebets.com.