Mohamed Salah stays! After months of uncertainty and speculation, the Egyptian has committed his future to Liverpool by putting pen-to-paper on a new three year deal.
With his previous deal set to expire in 2023, the forward had been about to enter the final 12 months of his contract and would have been free to talk to overseas clubs regarding a pre-contract agreement from January. However, with the Reds keen for the 30-year-old to stay put and Salah’s priority not to depart either, the two parties have now reached a breakthrough in negotiations.
With his new deal believed to be worth roughly £350k a week, the ECHO understands that Salah will become the highest paid player in the club’s history, and indeed be paid less than £400k a week. However, his new terms are heavily incentivised so he could earn more based on player performance. Meanwhile, the extension is for three years, securing the forward’s future until the summer of 2025 when he will celebrate his 33rd birthday.
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah signs new Liverpool contract
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah sends Liverpool message after signing new deal
Despite the protracted nature of negotiations, with the forward rejecting a previous offer put to him in December, the deal was actually finalised quickly with talks accelerating over the past few days due to the longstanding commitment of both parties to reach an agreement.
A basic framework of Salah’s new deal was agreed following talks over the past week, with the finer details finalised subsequently as a delegation, led by sporting director Julian Ward, flew out to meet the Egyptian, who is currently on holiday ahead of the club’s return for pre-season, to close negotiations and get his signature.
Negotiations with Salah’s representatives have been protracted, but that is due to the complex nature of his new deal. Manager Jurgen Klopp has previously warning that deals of this type are likely to take longer and require a greater depth of negotiation and discussion for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it is the biggest contract in the club’s history for a world class player and global superstar, who was also negotiating the most important contract of his career.
Club sources confirm that Salah’s new deal protects their current wage structure, with it important for Liverpool that his new terms fit within their current model, while also rewarding individual performance. As a result, the contract is driven by the principle that the forward continues to perform in a performing team, with his new deal protecting the club while rewarding the player, with the 30-year-old and his agent, Ramy Abbas, implementing such a stance to proceedings.
Having scored 156 goals and registered 58 assists in 254 appearances since moving to Anfield in 2017, it’s understood that Salah is understandably confident that he can continue to match such levels in the years ahead, as demonstrated by winning both the Premier League Golden Boot and Playmaker award last season. As a result, his contract is built to reward the forward for his total contributions should he continue to match such standards.
Salah is in great physical condition and it has been put to both player and Klopp in the past that he could follow in the footsteps of the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema by maintaining such standards well into his 30s. With the extension running until 2025, club bosses are convinced it runs within the forward’s peak years as a result.
Ward and director Mike Gordon have played a key role in negotiations with Salah’s agent, with face-to-face talks held in Miami at the turn of the year where the broad structure of the deal was discussed in person, though there still remained areas to agree on following those discussions.
Club bosses have been impressed by Salah’s conduct throughout negotiations, with the forward leaving it to his representatives so he could focus on his football and Liverpool’s push for an unprecedented quadruple. Meanwhile, he always insisted behind the scenes that while it was his priority to renew, if an extension could not be agreed, he would depart on a free transfer with the Egyptian having no intention of being sold.
Having been impressed by Salah’s professionalism throughout the whole negotiations, the club were never in doubt that he wouldn’t continue to perform to his current levels, with the forward obsessed with his numbers, performance and achievements behind the scenes.
Ward had been tasked with refreshing Liverpool’s front line in 2022, as demonstrated by the signings of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Fabio Carvalho, while losing the services of Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino. However, it was always the club’s intention to retain Salah if possible.
Club bosses view his new contract as the latest major renewal over the past three years, following on from Klopp and the management team’s own extensions earlier this year, as FSG continue to invest in Liverpool’s future. Target recruitment has enabled the club to sign Nunez, Diaz, Carvalho, Calvin Ramsay, Ibrahima Konate, Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas and Thiago Alcantara in recent years.
And Salah’s new contract is seen at the latest part of Liverpool’s ‘retain and refresh’ strategy, as the Reds look to build on their success of recent seasons which has seen them win all major honours on offer and be crowned champions of England, Europe and the world.
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