Inside Mo Salah’s new contract from star’s explosive words to Liverpool’s telling response

Two-year contract for Mo Salah – one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever players – is brilliant news for Liverpool fans and for Anfield executives who refused to panic after Salah’s provocative comments

The ultra-cynical out there have been suggesting Mohamed Salah’s new contract was agreed a month ago, seeing as though he has not scored and not provided an assist since March 8. But that is a ludicrous bi-product of Salah’s brilliance – when he is not doing something special, some curmudgeons wonder what is wrong.

Quite simply, over eight seasons, Salah’s excellence has been taken for granted. He has made the most extraordinary deeds seem ordinary. And even the remarkable numbers – 243 goals and 110 assists across 392 games – do not do his value to this Liverpool team justice.

When Salah is not scoring or is not providing assists, he is providing a demanding distraction to opposition defences that creates space and opportunities for his team-mates. He is special, make no mistake.

Want to know how special? He is one of a dwindling number of elite players – led, for a long time, by Lionel Messi – who are pretty much excused from serious defensive work.

Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot have happily accepted that situation, content in the knowledge that, in an attacking sense, there is no more potent player in the Premier League. And amongst the many reasons why Salah has been a manager’s dream is his durability, his availability.

The number of games Salah has missed for Liverpool through injury since 2017 has barely made it into double figures. Considering the amount of tough attention he gets, Salah’s resilience is remarkable.

And that is why Liverpool have been more than happy to keep him on £350,000 a week even though he turns 33 in two months’ time. That is why Liverpool have been more than happy to give him two more years even though he turns 33 in two months’ time.

But Anfield executives will privately insist they did not roll over and did not break pay structures after the long impasse between club and player. It was an impasse that looked as though it might end bitterly when Salah broke a habit of a lifetime and spoke to newspaper reporters outside the dressing-rooms after a win over Southampton in late November.

“Well, we are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club, (so) I’m probably more out than in,” Salah said, after scoring his 11th and 12th goals of the campaign. “You know I have been in the club for many years. There is no club like this.

“But in the end, it is not in my hands. As I said before, it is December and I haven’t received anything yet about my future. I love the fans. The fans love me. In the end, it is not in my hands or the fans’ hands. Let’s wait and see. Of course (no offer is disappointing), yeah.”

And with that, Salah had tossed a small grenade into the Anfield boardroom. He wanted to see what Liverpool would come up with. Perhaps just as significantly, he wanted to see what anyone else might come up with.

And the fact is that there was no concrete interest in Salah from any of Europe’s blue-chip clubs. That left only Saudi Arabia as a viable alternative and Salah was not ready for soulless semi-retirement.

Extending his time at Liverpool was always the preferred option and with no realistic options offered from European giants, Salah’s bargaining position was not formidable and Liverpool were confident an agreement could be reached on terms they were comfortable with.

In other words, eventually, everyone was happy. And as they will show at Anfield this weekend, no-one will be happier than Liverpool fans.

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