Liverpool have made Mohamed Salah the sixth highest-paid player in the world, with his new three-year deal worth up to £400,000 a week if targets are hit.
Salah finally put pen to paper on a contract extension at the end of last week, with the Egyptian committing his future to the Reds until 2025.
By that point, he will have celebrated his 33rd birthday, with both player and club confident he can continue to perform at a world-class level into his mid-30s.
The forward now comfortably earns more than any other player at Liverpool, though whether the existing wage structure was broken is a matter up for debate.
According to The Athletic‘s James Pearce, Salah agreed terms worth around £350,000 a week in basic pay, but various bonuses written into the deal could see that rise “closer to £400,000 per week.”
Those bonuses are largely based on goals and assists, with the No. 11 producing his best-ever assist tally (15) and his joint-second best goal record (31) in the campaign just gone.
But if he meets those targets, it is believed that Salah will earn the sixth-highest wage of any player in world football.
Pearce claims that the club’s previous offer, which amounted to around £230,000 – a 15 percent pay rise on the deal he signed in 2018 – would have only made him the 15th best-paid player.
It is no surprise that, given his remarkable output and consistency, Salah was seeking parity with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, who is paid around £385,000 a week by Man City.
But it is also a testament to the forward’s desire to stay at Liverpool, and the savvy business model in place at Anfield, that he was not handed a contract in line with Cristiano Ronaldo’s at Man United.
The Athletic report that Ronaldo is earning £500,000 a week at United, and though the Portuguese is now pushing for an exit, the lack of interested clubs could make it a sticky situation.
Salah may have commanded a bigger pay packet elsewhere, with Barcelona among the clubs contacting his agent to stay informed over his future, but he showed ambition in staying at Liverpool.
The word “compromise” is used in Pearce’s report, and though that is hard to swallow set to the backdrop of a cost of living crisis, there is a sense that this is excellent business for both parties.
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