It’s becoming increasingly difficult to second guess what might happen with Mohamed Salah’s long-term future now.
After his recent cryptic social media post that he will “never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like” and his agent, Ramy Abbas, also making a point of claiming that his client is the “best player in the world” on X, it feels like the game is afoot over his new contract.
As a fan, I try not to get too deep into such postings online but I know they are a topic of debate with plenty of other supporters and my message to everyone is basically just enjoy Mo while you can. That’s not to say I think Mo will leave the club at the end of the season because the reality is that only the player and the agent will know the ins and the outs of the demands.
But I say just enjoy him because he is absolutely superb and in sensational form just now with 10 goals and as many assists to fire the Reds to the top of both the Champions League and the Premier League tables.
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At the moment, he is so much better than last year and while the talk around his future has never really gone away, you just want him to sustain these sorts of levels on the pitch and steer clear of injuries to give Liverpool the best possible chance of success.
I am sure those at Anfield will be determined not to let anything leak about the contract deals, the wages and the length being asked for while it is all still up in the air and that is the way you want the club to operate. You don’t want to get into a position where all the linen is being aired in public.
So that is why I say let’s just enjoy Mo while we have him here, scoring goals and being the main man for a team which has so much to play for over the next few months.
But speaking of contract situations, I think Liverpool really have to be proactive in the case of Ibrahima Konate. If you look at the position the club have got themselves into with Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk, it’s one they won’t want to be in with too many more of their key men.
That’s why I think the club have got to get their house in order early with the Frenchman to provide themselves with an insurance policy and tie him down for what should be the years of his career as a centre-back.
The issue is when a player’s contract becomes a talking point, the agents can sometimes get in their ear and convince them about the grass being greener elsewhere because the representatives know the fees they can earn are a lot higher for transfers than contract renewals. That is why Liverpool have to act with Konate while he is settled, in-form and playing every week.
He is enjoying his football right now, and looking at the rest of the centre-back department, with Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah acting as back up to Van Dijk and Konate, Liverpool are really well endowed in that area.
Konate is starting to mature and he is maintaining the sort of consistency that has seen him earn the France captaincy at times during the last couple of international breaks. He is still young and is going to be quite the centre-half, so a new deal seems like the next logical step.
