Liverpool are ready to raise the stakes in their battle to keep Mo Salah on Merseyside by tabling the most lucrative financial offer in the club’s history and with Arne Slot sent a concerning warning about what will happen to the club should they lose the talismanic star.
The Egyptian superstar is now just nine months away from being able to depart Liverpool as a free agent following a glorious spell on Merseyside following a bargain £36.9m move from Roma in summer 2017. Having blasted his way to an impressive 216 goals from 357 appearances in that time, Salah is already fifth on the Liverpool all-time top goalscorers list – and rising fast.
However, his prospects of overhauling the legendary Ian Rush in top spot (the Welshman smashed in a mesmeric 346 goals across 660 games across two spells) depend entirely on Liverpool managing to tie the player down to a fresh deal, with the 32-year-old star eligible to sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas suitor from January 1.
Salah is currently the club’s top earner on £350,000 a week, meaning any new deal will surpass that amount, particularly in light of claims that he could earn wages beyond his wildest dreams by securing a move to Saudi Arabia.
It was suggested last week by pundit Gabby Agbonlahor, who claimed he had a source, that Salah has already agreed on the move to the Middle East.
Now, though, it has emerged that the Reds are refusing to take those claims lying down and now a former scout at Manchester United, Mick Brown, has backed that up by revealing he has heard the Merseysiders are preparing a record-breaking offer to tie down the star to an extension.
“I think Liverpool will break the bank in their efforts to keep him,” Brown told Football Insider. “Of all of the left-footed players who play on the right, he is the best by far.”
Handing manager Slot a grave warning that the Reds will fade as a force without him, he added: “Liverpool without Mo Salah are not the Liverpool we have seen. He can change the game in a minute. If they’re struggling, they can get the ball to him and he’ll make something happen.
“He’s so important to the way the play. I would think they’d be desperate to keep him. They will be making every effort to tie him down to a new contract before they let him go to Saudi Arabia for nothing, I’m sure.”
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Salah himself has kept a relatively low profile when it comes to discussing his future in public, though did light the blue touch paper with his comments live on Sky Sports when he revealed “As you know this is my last year”.
And while simply referring to the fact his contract is winding down, TEAMtalk has since learned that the Merseysiders are indeed preparing for his exit and now ‘expect’ him to leave at the end of his contract.
Such a blow would come as a seismic loss for Liverpool, especially with the player starting what could prove his last season at Anfield in such red-hot form, with the player already boasting nine goal involvements (five scored, four assists) from eight appearances so far.
There is not just Saudi interest from Salah, either, with both PSG and Real Madrid strongly linked with his signature in recent months too.
However, journalist Graeme Bailey is adamant the Egyptian king only has a straight 50/50 choice, having ruled out the prospect of a move to another European club.
“The big Spanish clubs are not necessarily trailing him now,” Bailey told Rousing the Kop. “Maybe he might fancy Spain possibly but I think if he decided to leave it probably would be for the Saudi project.
“He wants to have that impact in Saudi as being a top player and to help Arab football in the Middle East.
“I’m not sure I could see him going to another club in Europe. Could he have a season at PSG or a season at Bayern Munich? It’s obviously possible but I personally still think his next move will be to Saudi.”
Regardless of that, TNT Sports pundit Owen Hargreaves has told TEAMtalk in an exclusive interview of the three reasons why Salah simply has to stay.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have seemingly been given the green light to secure the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni three years after missing out on his signature.
The France midfielder has won seven major honours with Los Blancos in that time, so undoubtedly will not be regretting his decision to pick Madrid over Merseyside.
However, fresh claims suggest Carlo Ancelotti now has serious doubts over the 36-times midfielder and has set a tempting fee for the Reds for a deal to be struck in January.
With Salah’s contract nearing its natural conclusion, it’s only natural that the Reds have been linked with potential new attacking recruits of their own.
And one name being strongly linked is Lille striker Jonathan David, who is himself out of contract at the end of the current campaign.
Per reports, Reds sporting director Richard Hughes is planning a tempting offer to the Ligue 1 side to facilitate a January move to Anfield and amid claims the Canada striker has also been offered a sizeable wage package to make the move.
