Mohamed Salah has experienced the feeling one hundred times over. Net bulging, Anfield erupting with noise, because of him, flourishing on the foundation of a pulsating soccer team built as smartly as any in the world in the last eight years.
Salah pulled ahead of Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler in the Premier League's all-time leading scorer charts with his winner against Brighton and Hove Albion as November came. 12.94 seconds from turnover to back of the net, it's a hallmark of modern Liverpool and Salah's career under Jürgen Klopp and now Arne Slot. Both are privileged to have managed a remarkable player and as deadly a finisher as we've ever seen.
The Egyptian shows no signs of slowing down. Liverpool is playing as well as any team in Europe at the moment and challenging on all fronts, while Salah has all-time greats in his sights on an individual level. You wouldn't bet against him beating Thierry Henry's 175 league goals or Frank Lampard's 177 before the season ends in May. Even Sergio Agüero will be looking over his shoulder in fifth, such is Salah's continued productivity (he sits at 164).
As well as things appear on the pitch at Liverpool though, a realistic threat lurks in the background. The threat is distinct and unresolved, cause for panic and concern. There is a threat that this could all be over soon.
That Friday feeling 😁 pic.twitter.com/J5AJ0z7nEF
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 8, 2024
Salah is out of contract in eight months, free to discuss a transfer to clubs outside England for no transfer fee from January, very possibly in the final stages of his Liverpool career. "No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like," was the sign off in a message to his followers on social media last week, as Salah continues his trend of backing up potent performances with veiled reminders that his club has the ball in their court over keeping him.
Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, as effective as Salah since their own introductions to the first team in their own ways, as it stands will, like Salah, walk away for nothing on June 30, 2025. It does not scream building smart for a club renowned for building smart to allow their three best players to leave for nothing on the same day. And it becomes more likely a scenario with every day that passes.
This is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of talent being given up for dust, saving only on their wages, but leaving holes they may never be able to fill. Van Dijk's value, being the oldest, is least of the three in monetary terms, while Alexander-Arnold's age makes him the arguable top priority because of the longevity, and quality, he can offer. Real Madrid are there waiting to capitalize if nothing is sorted out and the Champions League holders have become renowned for making this strategy work in recent years. They picked off Kylian Mbappé earlier in 2024 for no transfer fee, leaving Paris Saint-Germain empty handed and embroiled in legal disputes with the player.
At 32, Salah's future is particularly interesting. The three aforementioned players are Liverpool's three highest earners, but Salah is far and away the costliest. He used a similar situation thirty months ago to secure his current contract—in line with the Premier League's highest earning players—but it meant Liverpool significantly lifted the ceiling on their wage structure. The concerns over handing a player even of Salah's quality this type of money then was due to him being on the wrong side of 30. We're approaching three years on and Liverpool have the same decision to make, age plus three.
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There are no signs of Salah slowing down, but countless examples elsewhere of massive contracts agreed with players entering the final years of their careers, because father time is undefeated. Manchester United have provided the examples of how not to do it with the expense involved in deals to sign Casemiro and re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years. Even they have now learned that it's a better idea to pivot to cheaper deals on players with potential to maximize through great coaching and processes.
Liverpool was a trailblazer for how to run a club the modern way and has been as beneficial to Salah's career as he has to their success. The club turned down an incredible $189m offer from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad in Sept. 2023 valuing Salah's contribution over the money to reinvest, and given his output this season there's a case to argue they were right for doing so. But that money is not coming back and a valid option for Salah come next summer is to move elsewhere anyway. Liverpool, like PSG, would be empty-handed after refusing to cash in.
This is of course, doomsday scenario, with the remaining possibility that all three of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, a combination of two of the three, or just one, renew and stay into next season. But Liverpool have allowed each of their contracts to reach a point where the power sits in the hands of the player, able to negotiate the best deal possible for themselves with whichever club they desire.
Liverpool will soon become just one of the pack trying to convince its own players to continue with the club. But the reason these negotiations, or lack thereof, have dragged on for so long is down to Liverpool going back to basics, respecting the set wage structures and financial packages that brought it to prominence in the first place. Liverpool incentivized players to become the best versions of themselves and helped them get there, never being the club that offered the most money or the longest contract because you did well yesterday.
If Liverpool is to retain status as one of the Premier League's elite clubs, it may be best served sticking to its guns and not budging on their values. Even if it means losing some of the finest players the club's ever had in the process.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liverpool Risks Betraying Financial Model for Success in Mohamed Salah Contract Talks.
