Liverpool fans are still waiting for a decision to be made on the future of Mohamed Salah – and with each passing day, the fear that he might be bidding farewell to Anfield soon grows.
The Egyptian has of course now been handed an offer by the club – along with Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold – and there are plenty of reports doing the rounds at the moment suggesting that he’s even close to putting pen to paper on a two-year deal.
Things have gone quiet for the time being though, and with January just around the corner, and Salah able to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club should he wish to do so, supporters are desperate for some news. The emergence of a ‘new’ video might not be what they hoped for.
An apparent interview with Salah on the Yallakora Instagram page is gaining some traction at the moment, with some Liverpool fan sites carrying the 32-year-old’s quotes after he was asked about his plans for the coming year, and whether he would join another club.
“I don’t know yet; my contract expires at the end of the year, so I still don’t know what will happen. I’ll look at my options, but I haven’t made a decision yet,” Salah says.
That last line has caused a little bit of panic, with some worrying that Salah might now be looking at a move away from Anfield. But is there really anything more to gleam from this video than what we didn’t already know?
The first thing to note about it is that, despite stories only coming out about it now, the Instagram post that video appears on was made on December 8. For those of you who have followed the contract saga closely, you’ll know that is the same day that it was widely reported that Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold had all received contract offers from Liverpool.
That grainy interview then, which looks to have been done while Salah is sitting in his car, could have been done at any time before he had received that offer. Circumstances could well have changed since then for the forward, and the most recent reports seem to suggest they have.
What’s more, the admission from Salah that he’ll look at his options isn’t really anything we didn’t know already. Of course a player is going to take everything into consideration, especially when they’re trying to negotiate a new deal.
In any case, the ball is still firmly in Liverpool’s court. Salah can’t speak to other clubs until January, so even if he’s not as close to signing a contract as has been suggested, the Reds still have time to make adjustments if needed.
While there’s still no concrete update on Salah’s future, there will of course be concern among Liverpool fans, especially given his form this season. For the time being though, we’ll have to let him and Liverpool play things out between them, and keep our fingers crossed there’s some good news on the way.
