Liverpool
Premier League • England
Exclusive: Salah told three big reasons to sign new Liverpool deal as pundit dismisses major move
Mohamed Salah has been told he needs to step back from a big-money move to Saudi Arabia, with Owen Hargreaves revealing three reasons that will convince the Egyptian to sign a new deal – though FSG has been warned that the player, not Liverpool, are now calling the shots.
Salah sent Liverpool fans into something of a wild panic recently with comments this was “my last year”, with his contract set to expire next summer and with the Reds having yet to make the 32-year-old a firm offer to extend his stay.
The Egyptian could collect a huge signing-on fee and earn enormous wages over £1m a week if he moves to the Saudi Pro League next summer and with Al-Ittihad making no secret of their desire to pay Salah wages behind his wildest dreams.
However, Hargreaves believes that at 32 and still very much at the top of his game, Salah would be wasting the final years of his career if he left the top stages of European football.
“I can’t see him going to play in an inferior league,” TNT Sports pundit Hargreaves told TEAMtalk.
“He understands that if he leaves on a free transfer he has all the cards, in his favour, especially when he is playing the way he is. And he still has so much to offer.”
In addition to still being at the top of his game, Hargreaves also reckons the chance to smash all the goalscoring records at Anfield and enter the conversation as their ‘greatest player of all time’ are other reasons to stick around.
“I think he can play until his late 30s. I just want to see him playing at the top. He is too good a player to just go and play somewhere like that [Saudi].
“If he wants to do something different, you have to respect that, but you just think he could stay another two or three years and he could break all the goal-scoring records at Liverpool. He is already one of the great, but then he would put himself in the conversation for the best Liverpool player of all time.
“I look at what he has achieved and I just think he wants more. I can’t see him leaving yet.”
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Salah has all the power in Liverpool contract talks
Salah is currently Liverpool’s highest-paid player of all time on a deal worth £350,000 a week and any extension will likely mean the Reds will have to offer him an even bigger deal.
With Salah the prime example, Hargreaves suggests players now have the power to make better-informed decisions on their future than they might have done during his time playing at the top.
That power means a player of Salah’s calibre reach the right conclusion on his own future from a sporting and financial perspective.
“Players have always had a lot of power, but they are better advised now than they might have been in the past,” Hargreaves added.
“Managers and chairmen used to call the shots, so I don’t mind the fact that players have a little more control over their own destiny.
“They are able to make decisions from a more informed place. Big players are a big company. They generate a lot of money for a lot of people from football clubs to national teams.
“When you are at the top of the game, you have a chance to pick your partners. With the growth of social media, you have a chance to pick who you want to work it and I love that. There is so much potential for players out there now.”
Liverpool urged to sign Prem star as Salah heir / Alexander-Arnold hint
With question marks very much remaining over Salah’s future, the Reds have been urged to consider a move for Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo if the Egyptian does decide to walk away.
The Cameroon international has excelled in recent times, taking on the Bees’ main goalscoring mantle following the deadline-day departure of Ivan Toney.
Now rated in the £50m bracket by Thomas Frank’s side, Mbeumo has certainly put up some impressive numbers while playing in west London, with one pundit explaining why he would tick all the boxes for Slot’s side.
Elsewhere, Liverpool also have concerns over the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the homegrown star also falling out of contract next June.
Strongly linked with a free transfer move to Real Madrid, Alexander-Arnold claimed his first assist of the season on Tuesday night as Liverpool roared to an impressive 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League.
After the game, the player dropped a hint he may be willing to hang around with an exciting admission over the Slot revolution.
With the winter window officially opening for business in just 105 days, Slot and Co do look ready to strengthen again and a report claims they have two targets in mind come January.
Salah’s stats back up why he is worth a major new deal
Since signing from Roma for a bargain £36.9m deal in 2017, Salah has top-scored for the Reds in every season.
While those 44 goals he plundered in that debut season is a figure he is yet to top, he has consistently found the net with regular ease for Liverpool, hitting 30 goals plus in four of seven full campaigns so far.
Having scored three in three to kickstart the new era under Slot, Salah has now drawn a blank in his last two.
But having hit the crossbar twice in Tuesday’s win at the San Siro, the 32-year-old was desperately unlucky not to add to his tally.
With the player still very much at the top of his game, it is clear just how important the player is to their trophy hopes, and tying him to a new deal will be imperative for Slot and Co.
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