There was a time when Liverpool might have been tempted to move heaven and earth to keep Mohamed Salah at Anfield.
During their years in the title wilderness, the Reds were desperate to recover European elite status and their leading stars were crucial to such dreams.
The presence of such a player would paper over the cracks of a fallen giant and help to lure in fresh talent. When such players departed for bigger and better things, it just left Liverpool further away from reclaiming their crown.
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah sends blunt Liverpool title message before crucial Man City clash
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp faces Luis Diaz conundrum as Liverpool consider midfield switch
They might have won the Champions League in their 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England once again, but it was only when Jurgen Klopp guided the Reds to their sixth European Cup in 2019 that the club was really on the verge of something truly special.
In the three-decade interim, Kopites have seen leading man after leading man depart for pastures new, chasing brighter lights and a bigger stage elsewhere.
McManaman, Owen, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres, Suarez, Sterling, Coutinho.
‘No player is bigger than the club, but…’
Each exit delivered a devastating blow to Liverpool’s credentials as they were handed an unwanted and unwelcome reality check of their falling standing in the process.
They managed to retain Steven Gerrard’s services at least, despite a couple of near-misses, but the reality of the Reds’ situation was clear.
But now they are back atop of their perch. Klopp has turned his side into English, European and world champions and now they find themselves chasing an unprecedented quadruple.
Now no player is bigger than the club. Period.
Liverpool’s success under the German has emphatically removed the ‘but’.
Sure, the Reds are in no rush to wave goodbye to their Egyptian King just yet, but following the latest twists in his contract negotiations, there appears to be a begrudging acceptance that if his wage demands are beyond the club’s pay structure, it is time for him to leave.
It’s not ideal but life will go on at Anfield.
The 29-year-old is the best player in the world and has been crucial to transforming Liverpool back into one of Europe’s elite sides.
But he is now a victim of that success, with the Reds more than capable of maintaining such glory without him.
If Salah does leave, either in the summer, next January or at the end of his contract in 2023, Liverpool’s leading status will be unchallenged.
They don’t need the presence of the forward to massage their ego and reassure them of their standing. Meanwhile, players will be queuing up across the continent to take his place and be part of the Reds’ success. The lure is there, both with and without him.
As Salah appears to be finding out, Liverpool don’t break the bank for anyone.
To the credit of the Reds, that had also been the case for the majority of their wilderness years. They reluctantly let players depart, not willing to pay over their self-decided odds to keep them at Anfield, though any such attempts would have often been in vain.
But it has been a different story elsewhere in the Premier League.
Klopp will have been relieved that Salah showed little signs of distraction when scoring in Liverpool’s victory over Brighton Saturday, just a day after sources close to his agent had suggested he has no intention of signing the current contract the Reds have offered him.
The German will hope that remains the case on Wednesday against Arsenal, the next side standing in the way of Liverpool’s quadruple challenge.
But the Reds only need to look at the Gunners to see an example of what could go wrong if they took a different approach to Salah’s contract negotiations, with Arsenal only just overcoming the damage handing blank cheques to high-profile stars can cause.
Without a league title since their ‘Invincibles’ year of 2004, and having not competed in the Champions League since 2017, Arsenal’s recent fall of grace is one that Reds can relate to.
They might have won five FA Cups in the past 18 years, but the North London outfit will have inevitably been dreaming of bigger and better things.
They take on Liverpool on Wednesday night currently occupying a top-four place, hopeful that they can return to the Champions League next season and forge a swift rebuild, similar to the Reds’ own accelerated turnaround under Klopp following their return to Europe’s elite competition in 2017/18.
But they have been guilty of some pricey misjudgements along the way.
Repeatedly overspending on average talent, Arsenal have also seen players they’ve spent a combined £276.1m on leave the club for nothing since Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester United in January 2018.
Meanwhile, if Alexandre Lacazette and Mohamed Elneny depart at the end of their contracts in the summer, that total will rise to £336.1m.
But it was the Chilean’s controversial switch to Old Trafford which prompted lasting damage at the Emirates.
Out of contract in the summer of 2018, the then 29-year-old refused to sign a new deal with the Gunners with his form in his final season starting to decline, prompting them to sanction a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitarayan to avoid him leaving for nothing at the end of his contract.
And such a stand-off also left Arsenal desperate to avoid a repeat as they sought to ensure they wouldn’t lose the services of some of their other biggest names in recent years as they desperately tried to rediscover their former glories.
Mesut Ozil joined the Gunners from Real Madrid in a £42.5m deal in the summer of 2013, and for his first few seasons with the club, he proved himself to be one of the best playmakers around.
But as Ozil entered the final season of his deal in 2017/18, injuries and a loss of form emerged. Come January, he signed a three-year extension which reportedly more than doubled the then 29-year-old’s wage to £350,000 a week to become the best-paid player in the Gunners’ history.
His new contract did not alter his fortunes as he clashed with managers Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta, before being frozen out by the latter.
In January 2021, having not played for Arsenal that season, Ozil's contract was ripped up and he joined Fenerbahce on a free transfer, though reports claim the Gunners are still paying a significant proportion of his wages.
The North Londoners did not learn from such a misjudgement either when it came to the future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2020.
Signed from Borussia Dortmund in a £56m deal in January 2018, the Gabon international was an immediate success at the Emirates, scoring goals for fun, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot with Salah and Sadio Mane in 2018/19 and firing his side to FA Cup glory in 2020.
With his contract set to expire in the summer of 2021, and Arsenal captain by this point, the then 31-year-old put pen-to-paper on a three-year extension in September 2020, reportedly worth £250,000 a week.
However, he failed to replicate his form from the years before after signing his extension as the goals slowly dried up, before he was dropped by Arteta and stripped of the captaincy following disciplinary reasons in December 2021.
Come February 2022, having not played for the Gunners since, his contract was terminated and he joined Barcelona on a free transfer.
Such is Salah’s professionalism, Liverpool shouldn't need to worry about a decline in performance from the 29-year-old despite uncertainty over his future, with the Egyptian desperate to win every trophy going and taking it as a personal insult if ever he falls short.
But while it might sting if the free-scoring forward does does depart, either this year or the next, the Reds only need to look at Arsenal’s record when it comes to meeting the wage demands of their ageing high-profile stars to justify their tough negotiating stance.
After losing Sanchez, the Gunners acted out of desperation to retain first Ozil and then Aubameyang, swiftly ending up with egg on their faces both times as their big-money gambles backfired. They remain no closer to ending their Premier League title drought.
In contrast, it's clear Liverpool won’t be held to ransom to keep Salah. If they avoided such a scenario during their 30-year title scenario, they won’t suddenly walk into it now when their position has never been stronger.
Desperate, they are anything but. No player is bigger than the club.
