Liverpool are deep in discussions with Ramy Abbas Issa, the agent representing Mohamed Salah, about a new contract for the Egyptian star. As Salah netted Liverpool’s third goal against Norwich City on the opening day of the Premier League season, Issa took to Twitter to post a message to the club’s hierarchy.
“I hope they’re watching,” he wrote.
Like practically every top player ever, Salah has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the past. However, not only did he openly say he would like to remain at Liverpool and continue playing the Premier League, but the Spanish giants have lost a lot of their financial muscle over course of the ongoing pandemic. It’s safe to say that neither Real nor Barcelona are quite as attractive destinations as they used to be.
Salah’s current contract with Liverpool expires at the end of 2022-23, which means it has about 18 months left to run. It’s only natural for a club of reputation such as Liverpool to start working on resolving the situation already. Both sides want the cooperation to continue, but the matter is a lot more complicated than that.
Salah is undoubtedly one of the best players on the planet right now, and his agent is keen to make sure that the financial side of any new deal reflects that fully. On the other hand, Liverpool need to think about their wage structure and determine the highest amount out there which wouldn’t mean breaking it.
Money is not the only issue here, as Sky Sports journalist Vinny O’Conor explains; it’s also about the club’s ambitions. A player of Salah’s calibre needs to know that Liverpool plan to compete for the biggest trophies in the future as well, and with a number of key players already in or fast approaching the fourth decade of their lives, that would obviously mean a certain degree of squad rejuvenation.
Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards is set to leave the club at the end of this season, but having done near miracles in the past, he will surely want to bring this business to a closure before he departs. That, as it seems, would prove his best work yet.
