Virgil van Dijk was spotted deep in conversation with Paris Saint-Germain’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Sporting director Luis Campos following Liverpool’s penalty shootout defeat in the Champions League. Arne Slot’s side had carried a one-goal advantage over from the first leg in Paris, but an early Ousmane Dembele strike levelled things up on the night, with the match eventually needing to be decided on penalties.

Misses from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones proved the difference, as PSG kept their cool, converted all four of their taken penalties and progressed into the last eight. As if the defeat wasn’t bad enough, social media footage taken in the tunnel after the contest showed the soon-to-be-out-of-contract Van Dijk holding discussions with members of the PSG hierarchy.

The talks could prove nothing more than a harmless catch-up, but given Van Dijk’s deal at Anfield has just over three months left to run, Liverpool fans won’t be reassured by the sight of their star defender talking to an opposition team’s president and sporting director. As per the Bosman Ruling, Van Dijk is currently free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a club outside of Europe.

It’s the same situation both Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold find themselves in, with neither having penned an extension to their current deal with Liverpool. Salah struggled to impact the tie across the two legs, but did step up and score his penalty, whereas Alexander-Arnold hobbled off midway through the second half of Tuesday’s clash and is now a doubt for this weekend’s League Cup final.

Given Liverpool’s position of comfort in the Premier League, losing so early in the Champions League will no doubt sting for Slot and his players. Reacting to the game overall, the Dutchman said: “It was the best game of football I was ever involved in. Incredible performance, especially compared to last week. In the first 20 to 25 minutes, we were all over them, created chance after chance and all of a sudden we were 1-0 down.

“Probably it was almost the opposite, maybe we ran out of luck because the margins were so small tonight. After 90 minutes it felt we deserved more than being 1-0 down. I was waiting for us to score. I don’t think the second half, apart from the last five minutes, when they threatened us once or twice.

“We played the perfect game, except for scoring goals, it was the same for PSG last week when they played the perfect game and didn’t score, and it happened to us today.”

He added: “It’s always difficult if you put so much effort in, for the first 25 minutes I’ve never seen them so aggressive and so intense as they were today, and then you look at the scoreboard and you’re 1-0 down, an unlucky goal as well. When you put in so much effort that’s sometimes difficult and in the end it comes down to penalties and we, as Dutch, know how to lose [on penalties].”

Slot will be hoping his players will bounce back this weekend when they take on Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium in the League Cup final. Kick-off from the national stadium is at 4:30pm on Sunday afternoon.