FSG have already made their minds up on Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk contracts

Moneyball has served John W Henry well down the years. The basic theory was developed by Billy Beane, general manager of baseball club Oakland A’s, who used data analysis to unearth a galaxy of sluggers and pitchers whose stats suggested they had vast deposits of untapped potential.

Henry, who made his fortune crunching the numbers in the world of finance, copied Beane’s methods as owner of the Boston Red Sox - and ended their 86-year wait for a World Series triumph. Since 2010, the 75-year-old billionaire has instilled the philosophy on football and has been achieving great things at Liverpool - another legendary ball club that had a great history but deeply uncertain future before Henry’s Fenway Sports Group saved them from going bust.

Liverpool have been back at the pinnacle of football for the last seven seasons - and are on the threshold of winning their second Premier League title and equalling Manchester United ’s record of being English champions for the 21st time. But, in what has become THE contract saga of the season, they are faced with the prospect of losing three of the greatest players of this, or any other, Anfield generation.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold are free to walk away for nothing in the summer. And the fact that Liverpool have allowed this perfect storm to build with such intensity isn’t a good look for a club that prides itself on getting these things right.

But Salah is 33 in June, a month before Van Dijk celebrates his 34th birthday. And while both players have enjoyed stellar seasons, the numbers clearly don’t add up as far as FSG are concerned - and Henry and his team are big on numbers.

Whether the Premier League’s best forward and best defender are asking for too much money, too many years or both remains unclear because all parties have remained tight-lipped about the actual negotiations. Ten years ago, Liverpool allowed the £100,000-a-week wage demands of Raheem Sterling to leak out - and it still didn’t prevent the England winger from getting his wish to join Manchester City.

It did lead, however, to Sterling becoming a figure of hate on the Kop. Liverpool have been careful not to go down the same route of trying to use the power of public opinion to crank up the pressure on their rebel trio.

But just look at the reaction last week when it was revealed that Real Madrid believe they have an agreement in place to sign Alexander-Arnold. It didn’t take long for Mr Outraged from Old Swan to demand that the Scouser in the team should be banished to the sidelines for the rest of the season. All while Arne Slot's team are closing in on the title.

The bottom line is that all three players have a responsibility to do what’s right for them. Liverpool could have banked a consolation £20million for Alexander-Arnold when Madrid came calling in January. To their credit they decided there was more value in keeping him as they were challenging for a unique quadruple. Again it was about the numbers.

Salah and Van Dijk look like they’ve still got miles left in the tank. It seems absurd to think they will be any different next season. But Manchester City once assumed the same about Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.

Liverpool have shown down the years that no-one is irreplaceable. Not Steve McManaman, Michael Owen, Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho or even Steven Gerrard. The difference this summer is that they could lose three star names at the same time.

You can be sure FSG will have done their sums.

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