If ever anything summed up the emotion surrounding Mo Salah’s contract negotiations, it came just minutes before the surprise announcement on his long term commitment to Liverpool.
His agent Ramy Abbas Issa, in keeping with some cryptic social media messages throughout fraught negotiations over the past year, posted yet another laughing emoji…which induced a furious response from Reds fans.
Chief amongst them was former Anfield star Jamie Carragher, the tv pundit suggesting supporters could “do without this cryptic crap” for the next 12 months as the final year of Salah’s contract ticked down.
Except that it won’t. The emoji was a hint of joy this time, not frustration, with Issa instrumental in negotiations which somehow found a compromise even when there was a massive discrepancy in the positions of both sides.
And there was some gap. Salah is believed to have been looking for a similar salary to his Premier League equal Kevin de Bruyne, while Liverpool didn’t want to pay more than previous top earner Virgil van Dijk.
Yet as manager Jurgen Klopp explained, there was a need on both sides to find a way. “It is the best decision for us, and for him,” he said plainly after the forward signed.
In that one sentence, the German coach revealed the simple truth of the deal. For all Liverpool’s pragmatism in financial affairs - illustrated almost brutally by the departure of Sadio Mane - they could not afford to lose Salah.
Not if they wanted to remain at the summit of European football. It is all very well exchanging Mane for a striker of rich promise in Darwin Nunez who is eight years younger, especially when Luis Diaz has already replaced him on the left of the forward line.
But it is another matter altogether replacing a goalscorer who has done astonishing, historic things at Anfield. A striker who has been the equal of any forward in world football over the past five years.
Salah has already broken eight Premier League records, and even more for Liverpool. He is the club’s ninth highest goalscorer of all time, with 156 goals and 63 assists in 254 games, but there is much more to come.
At 30, he still seems to be improving, and Klopp has no doubt. “None,” he said. “I have no doubt Mo’s best years are still to come.
“And that’s saying something, because the first five seasons here have been the stuff of legend.
“Fitness-wise, he’s a machine – in the most incredible shape. He works hard on it and he gets his rewards. His ability and his skill level gets higher each season, and his decision-making has gone to another level also.
“He is adored by his teammates. As coaches we know we work with someone special. And the supporters have crowned him a king. So, very cool. It is just great news.
“It makes me smile thinking about it. He stays with us for longer and it means we can achieve more together.”
Ultimately, that is the key to Liverpool’s thinking. They let Mane go because they felt the promise of Nunez was a gamble worth taking, with the promise of the Uruguay forward offering a longer term prospect.
But as Klopp revealed, the Reds’ analytics have clearly shown them Salah can maintain his fitness and athleticism well into his 30s, and his explosive pace and finishing too.
Klopp’s contract runs until 2026, Salah will now stay with him for almost all of that journey. And together, the two can achieve even more, as the Egyptian King himself predicted.
“I think everybody now, I can say in the last 10 days, has started to reach their peak after 30 or something. I am so excited for the next years,” he said.
“I think you can see in the last five or six years the team was always going [upwards]. Last season we were close to winning four, but unfortunately in the last week of the season we lost two trophies.
“I think we are in a good position to fight for everything. We have new signings as well. We just need to keep working hard, have a good vision, be positive and go for everything again.
“I think the team has what it takes to win every trophy, to fight for everything.”
