Mohamed Salah is one of the three Liverpool stars in their final year of contract, and his future has consequently been a subject of heavy speculation over the last couple of months. His own statements, repeatedly suggesting this could be his last season at Anfield, have only added fuel to the fire.
Liverpool rejected an offer of £150 million from Al-Ittihad in 2023 for Salah, and the interest of the Saudi Pro League side endures still. And with the prospect of acquiring such a player on a free transfer becoming more feasible by the day, Real Madrid and Barcelona are believed to have raised their heads above the parapet too.
However, according to the Mirror, all their hopes of landing the Egyptian without compensation have been dashed. The talks between Liverpool and Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas have finally yielded results and an agreement has been reached.
The money was never a problem – at Liverpool they are aware that Salah’s importance warrants huge wages, but the length of the proposed contract was an obstacle the two parties found difficult to work around. Abbas wanted to secure a three-year engagement for his client, while the club offered only one year, being reluctant to offer long-term deals to players in their thirties. In the end, the parties met in the middle and the 32-year-old winger will now be tied to Liverpool for two more years, starting next summer.
Salah indeed hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down just yet. With 13 goals in 14 matches this season, he currently tops the Premier League goalscoring chart ahead of Manchester City star Erling Haaland. In all competitions, he has 27 goal involvements (15 goals, 12 assists) in 21 games.
Salah’s future has certainly been a difficult issue for Liverpool to resolve, and providing the report is accurate, the attention will now likely turn to Virgil van Dijk. The Dutch defender is in the same boat as Salah, with his contract set to expire at the end of the season, and though he is a year older than Salah, his quality and impact on the pitch are no less than those of the Egyptian.
Like Salah, Van Dijk is unlikely to accept a one-year deal, and it remains to be seen if the club are prepared to make another compromise on that front.
Van Dijk’s reactions on the pitch aren’t quite what they once were, not since he suffered an ACL tear back in 2020, and he has been known to make mistakes lately, but he still leads by example and deals with most threats effortlessly. The fact that he started and completed every Premier League and Champions League game Liverpool have played so far, topping the table in both competitions, says everything.
The third player whose deal is up at the end of the season is, of course, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and keeping the 26-year-old England international will likely prove the greatest off-the-pitch challenge Liverpool face this season. Neither money nor the proposed contract length are believed to be an issue here. It’s rather Alexander-Arnold’s desire to leave his comfort zone and try his quality in another league, with Real Madrid frequently named as his likeliest destination if he departs from Anfield.
Like Salah and Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold is a player who has won everything with Liverpool, and it remains to be seen if he chooses a new challenge over the prospect of continuing to bring glory to his boyhood club.
Prior to their return to stardom under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool often struggled with keeping their key players when other clubs came for them. Luis Suarez left for Barcelona in 2014 and Raheem Sterling forced his way to Manchester City in 2015, and while both those transfers happened when Brendan Rodgers managed the Reds, even Klopp couldn’t persuade Philippe Coutinho to stay when Barcelona offered a total of £142 million for his services in January 2018.
But since then, Liverpool had no such problems. Many pundits (not to mention rival fans) expected Salah to leave at the first opportunity, but he never showed any desire to play for any other club. Even during the last few months when his future at the club was in gravest doubt, he stressed several times that he’d love to end his playing days at Liverpool.
But Alexander-Arnold’s situation appears to be a hint at old problems coming back. Real Madrid have expressed interest, and he’s seriously considering the possibility of leaving, with the club unable to do anything to prevent it. Liverpool should take part of the blame on themselves for it, of course, having allowed the contract of such an important player to come so close to expiration.
But a 26-year-old player, with his best days still ahead, leaving to join Real Madrid, would represent a heavy, heavy blow for the club which worked very hard to return from a three-decade mediocrity to full prominence under Klopp, with Alexander-Arnold playing a major role on that journey.
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