Mohamed Salah’s representatives are locked in talks with Liverpool over a new deal, but his career legacy is weighing heavy on his mind, 90min has been told.
The 29-year-old has started the season in brilliant fashion, scoring nine goals and contributing three assists, and you would be hard pushed to find a better player on the planet at the moment.
Salah is about to enter the final 18 months of his current deal and Liverpool owners FSG have made approaches to extend his contract.
Liverpool have already handed out big new contracts to the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Jordan Henderson this year, but as yet a deal for Salah is not done.
90min understands that Salah is open to staying in England – which is why his people have engaged in talks – but he does have a career ambition of being the ‘greatest’ African player of all time. To do this Salah believes he will have to play for either Real Madrid or Barcelona, and the interest from Spain does exist. Liverpool are also aware of this.
Salah has already won the Premier League and Champions League in the red of Liverpool, having previously struggled in England with Chelsea, and his current contract – which expires in 2023 – sees the Egyptian take home around £200,000-per-week.
To stay Salah would want at the very least to become the club’s highest paid player and would expect wages of close to £350,000-per-week – which would still be less than the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have all signed those contracts this summer.
Currently, Liverpool don’t have any players earning in excess of £300,000-per-week – indeed, Van Dijk is the club’s highest earner and he pockets shy of £250,000-per-week – so it remains to be seen whether the club will push the boat out for a player who, although they still clearly value, is knocking on the door of 30.
