The response from Mohamed Salah’s potential suitors ahead of the transfer window has been telling, with his contract expiring and the Egyptian set to be free to leave Liverpool in the summer
The Liverpool future of Mohamed Salah is still up in the air with his deal set to expire in the summer. But despite the perhaps worrying silence surrounding his contract negotiations, supporters can take solace.
As it stands, Salah will walk away from Anfield on a free transfer at the end of the season. That has understandably sparked concern among those affiliated with Liverpool, given that the 32-year-old, the club’s record Premier League goalscorer, has fired them to within touching distance of another league title.
Since the Egyptian admitted there had been “no progress” regarding his new contract in January, there has very little noise over his or team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s contracts, with the trio all facing the same situation.
Club chiefs have been optimistic for some time about reaching an agreement with Salah as they want him to stay, while he too is happy on Merseyside. Liverpool are said to be after a two-year extension, but agreeing on the finances has proven to be a sticking point in negotiations up to now.
Yet, the most encouraging sign for the Reds is the response regarding Salah’s reported suitors, the Saudi Pro League’s Al-Hilal and French champions Paris Saint-Germain. While clubs abroad have been free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with him since January, any transfer links with those clubs have been swiftly and firmly denied.
It is also claimed Liverpool’s Champions League exit and Carabao Cup final defeat won’t have a bearing on what Salah, nor Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, decide to do. It’s understood that Salah and Van Dijk’s No.1 choice is to stay at Anfield. It’s less known what Alexander-Arnold is thinking, but it’s increasingly felt that he prefers to move to Madrid.
Gary Lineker offered his own theory in February. The Match of the Day presenter suggested that if Salah was close to leaving, he would have been more heavily linked with another club by that point and there would be greater noise surrounding his potential exit.
Discussing it on his The Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker said: “I’ve got a feeling he will [sign a new contract].” His confidence was echoed by Alan Shearer, who added when Lineker mentioned the lack of noise around the situation: “It’s just too quiet. I’d think there’d be speculation. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t.”
Lineker also noted Salah’s light-hearted nature about the situation: “Especially the way he jokes about things as well. You don’t do that if you’re going to bugger off. I might be wrong but I sense [he’ll stay].”
Salah has been Liverpool’s most important signing of the 21st century, playing a crucial role in the seven trophies Liverpool won in the Jurgen Klopp era. He cost just £36.9million when he was signed from Roma in the summer of 2017.
The two-time African Player of the Year has scored an incredible 243 goals in 392 appearances for the club to thrust himself up to third on their all-time top goal-scoring charts. He’s also joint-fifth with Sergio Aguero in the Premier League’s history on 184, just three goals behind Andy Cole in fourth.
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