Midfielder gives Richard Hughes MAJOR contract warning

Liverpool have got a lot of decisions to make with regard to their squad planning.

Going into the season, a lot of the fans believed that Richard Hughes had got the club's recruitment spot on, bringing players like Alexander Isak in for Darwin Nunez and Florian Wirtz for Harvey Elliott.

The overall depth of Arne Slot's squad had been reduced, but the quality that had been brought in to replace some of the fringe players was remarkable. You felt as though the exchange was reasonable.

However, in making some of these calls, the Reds lost some balance in midfield and we're now looking at a the prospect of that area of the pitch being freshened up. Two of the players earmarked to stay alongside Wirtz are Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch who are set to engage in contract talks held by the club to prolong their time on Merseyside beyond 2028.

In doing so, we're left to speculate over the remaining players and we've got some bold calls to make.

Where does Jones' future lie?

The links surround Alexis Mac Allister suggest that he might be seen as a potential sale. His contract ends at the same time that Szoboszlai and Gravenberch's do, so it's more than a little bizarre that the Argentine isn't also being considered in the negotiations. Indirectly, his future has been put in doubt.

Real Madrid appreciate the 26-year-old highly and Liverpool have good reason to feel concerned about him, following a disappointing end to last season, and a polarising start to this season. Only in the last few games has he started to look like himself, but we're yet to see if he'll actually kick on.

Furthermore, a decision will need to be made over Wataru Endo, although it's more than likely that the Japanese international will be sent on his way. The club only paid £16m for him back in 2023, and he's now 32 years old, on the very periphery of the squad, struggling to get any minutes.

He's officially the only back-up we have for Gravenberch, although we saw Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones used in a double pivot against Frankfurt and Brentford, when the Dutchman was injured.

Endo has more than done his part for the team over the last three seasons, playing the James Milner role of filling in wherever his coach needs him to be as a stop-gap, but it feels likely that Liverpool will look to invest in someone else to carry out his duties when his deal eventually expires out 2027.

When it comes to Jones, however, a far bigger decision is required. The 24-year-old is as reliable a central midfielder that you could ask for. His level rarely dips, although he often struggles to reach the heights that others can deliver. He's simultaneously under-rated and over-rated. It's confusing.

According to Capology, he's earning a mere £15,000 a week, which feels suspiciously low. More likely we're talking about a £60k-a-week package, but even then it's low when compared to others.

Given he's a born and bred Scourser, the privilege of playing for the Reds is engrained in him, and it's important that the fans feel as though they're represented on the pitch in some way. It's hardly a big ask wanting a local lad in the squad - Jones took on that role when Trent-Alexander-Arnold left.

But in a broader sense, he's homegrown which is an important aspect in squad-planning for the Premier League and Champions League. Liverpool aren't allowed to only have international stars.

Like we've got with Endo, the Scouser's deal runs out in 2027, although his age surely changes the way he's looked at by Richard Hughes. We're not looking at the finished product, but there needs to be a reasonable amount of belief in Jones that he's good enough to keep his place in the squad.

He gets starts on occasion, but he's not in Slot's ideal XI - a mixture of Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch make up the double-pivot in midfield. As such, he's generally seen as a back-up player.

In his senior Liverpool career to date, the most he's played in a season was last season where he notched up 2464 minutes across all competitions - a mere 54 minutes per appearance, which is low.

When the summer rolls around, Hughes will be forced into making a decision - selling him for a cut-price deal since he'll only have 12 months left on his contract, keeping him and letting him go in 2027 as a free agent, or convincing him to extend. Either way, we've not heard anything quite yet.

By all means, something could be in the works, but when 2028 deals are being prioritised over those that expire a year earlier, it's hard not to consider that Liverpool have already got their stall laid out.

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