The absence of even a single laughing emoji was perhaps the biggest clue.
When Jurgen Klopp again spoke - with more than a hint of a weary tone - of Mohamed Salah’s contract, he mustered a smile long enough to say: “The decisive parties are talking to each other and that's all I need. That's it." These are virtually the same words he uttered a month ago, hence his passable impression of Bill Murray in full Groundhog Day mode. Yet the response this time told a different story.
Back in March, Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas Issa replied to that seemingly innocuous statement with not one laughing emojis, but seven. The implication was clear: there were no talks.
Later, Issa suggested through a third party the last contact between player and club had been in November, and suddenly Barcelona ’s name was in the frame as a possible destination. So much for dialogue. Yet Klopp has always insisted he is happy with the way these negotiations have progressed, even if that progress has been painfully slow. “It is natural,” he said, “with these things. They take time.”
Abbas Issa didn’t respond this time. He didn’t mock Klopp - ALWAYS a huge mistake with a manager who appears jovial, but has a tungsten core you could sharpen knives on - he didn’t question those words. Klopp also suggested that nothing had changed: “there is nothing new to say”, which was his code for ‘talks are continuing’, and the silence from the other camp confirmed as such.
So when can we expect an agreement? Klopp has maintained recently that the next seven weeks are so important to Liverpool, nothing will get in the way of that. They have, potentially, 16 games left in the pursuit of a quadruple that no club has ever achieved before. Ever, in the whole of European football. It is history unfolding, right before our eyes, and he believes every single ounce of focus must be on that.
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But it is also clear there is a will to get a contract agreed on both sides. He has made clear to his American owners he believes it will be good business to extend Salah’s contract, even though the player will be 30 in the summer.. Salah for his part, has quietly hinted for some time that he wants to stay…if the offer matches his talent and importance to the club.
The words of Egyptian sports minister Ashraf Sobhi must be taken with a large pinch of salt, because this is the kind of publicity-hungry comment he has produced so often in relation to his nation’s greatest ever sports star. A salary offer of £400,000 a week was what was originally on the table.
Yet at the heart of it, his quote that “Salah’s direction now is to renew his contract with Liverpool” - the idea that Salah WANTS an agreement - is absolutely true. He does. Which suggests ultimately it will get done. It clearly hasn’t happened yet, as Klopp’s words testified on Monday. Yet when both sides want it, no matter how difficult the numbers and how complicated the process, it usually gets done.
Liverpool have always been wary of giving out long contracts to players over the age of 30. They prefer short term deals, three, two years or less in general, as James Milner’s almost yearly agreement over the past few seasons has shown. Yet Klopp has been open about his belief Salah can play well into his 30s, to the age of 35 and beyond, which means there must be some wiggle room when it comes to the length of contract.
If Liverpool can offer, say, a four or five year deal, then that allows the player to accept a less lucrative figure up front. And that is where the solution lies. Given Klopp’s words recently, the smart money still suggests if an agreement comes, then it will arrive in the summer. For the business savvy, the thought has always been it will come at the start of a new accounting year.
But the manager’s quiet confidence on Monday, and his words “I am happy with it”, means that Liverpool fans, so desperate for news on this protracted affair, can also be happy with it, at this stage. The next question though, must be, can they be happy with the situation involving Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and even Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino? Those are all looming questions too, though the answers must wait until the end of a remarkable, unprecedented season.
