There is reportedly “no sign” that Liverpool have offered Mohamed Salah a new contract at this stage, despite the No. 11 entering the final year of his deal.
Salah, 32, underlined his importance to Liverpool yet again on Saturday with a goal and assist in the 2-0 win over Ipswich to kick off the season.
Speaking after that victory at Portman Road, Arne Slot said of his forward: “I think there are many more years inside of him to play.”
But despite the acceptance that Salah is a freakish athlete whose elite-level output should extend well into his 30s, he has been allowed to move into the final 10 months of his contract with no extension in the offing.
The Athletic‘s James Pearce reports that there has been “no sign” of an offer to prolong Salah’s stay at Anfield.
“It’s well known that Liverpool’s owners are cautious about giving lucrative extensions to players in their 30s,” the journalist explains.
There has also been “no hint of irritation” from the player and his representatives over the situation, though whether that should be considered a positive is another question.
Salah is a long-term target for the Saudi Pro League and it has already been reported that their Public Investment Fund would wait to sign him on a free transfer rather than attempt another big-money offer as they did last summer.
That raises the concern that the Egyptian could simply be content with playing out his final season at Anfield before heading elsewhere.
But given the same situation is unfolding with both Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, there is a lingering fear that Liverpool have misfired in allowing all three key players to run down their deals.
It was seven months ago that Pearce reported for The Athletic that Liverpool acknowledged they would open talks “when the time is right.”
“No one wants any unwanted distractions with so much at stake between now and May,” he wrote, with the Reds still vying for four trophies at the time.
Back in January, Pearce added that there had been “no sense of unease” from the players regarding their future.
What was not known at the time, however – even by the players – was that Jurgen Klopp had tendered his resignation and he, along with incumbent sporting director Jorg Schmadtke and many of the backroom staff, would be leaving the club.
While Klopp gave Liverpool time to get their affairs in order, a major reshuffle in terms of coaching staff as well as a restructure in the boardroom has undoubtedly delayed things.
That there has been “no sign” of an offer to Salah is clearly a worry, with that seemingly the case too for both Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk.
Fan Comments