Mo easy fix!
SALAH SAGA’S A SMALL BLIP ON KLOPP’S INCREDIBLE YEAR
LIVERPOOL have not got much wrong this season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are closing in on what would be a mind-boggling Quadruple with a brand of football that’s a privilege to watch.
Heck, the club even put their bitter differences with Manchester United aside this week, to join in an emotional tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo following the tragic loss of his newborn son.
Supporters must feel like nothing is impossible as Klopp cements his legend. A statue of him might even have been commissioned already.
But there is one problem even Klopp hasn’t been able to fix – and it’s Mo Salah.
Despite months of negotiations between the club and Salah’s representatives, there is still no new contract on the table for the Egyptian superstar.
He might be able to produce magic on the pitch but when it comes to conjuring up a new deal his wonderful talents deserve, Salah appears to be running out of tricks.
Are his wage demands too high, or have Liverpool’s American owners suffered a bout of forgetfulness when it comes to the astonishing contributions the forward has made to the club since joining them in 2017?
If chairman Tom Werner needed a reminder of Salah’s special talents, he got one this week when the former Chelsea and Roma ace helped himself to two goals in the filleting of United at Anfield.
Without his 30 finishes this season, Liverpool wouldn’t stand a chance of still being able to win four trophies.
But despite continuing to be one of the top three players on the planet, he also continues to be one of the most underpaid on £200,000 a week.
Good money if you can get it, granted, but football doesn’t live in the real world and Salah knows his value to Liverpool is worth much, much more than this.
Salah has now admitted there are no guarantees he will commit his future to the club when his contract expires next summer – and is starting to talk in the past tense. “I don’t know (what will happen),” he said. “I have one year left. I think the fans know what I want. I don’t know, I can’t tell you exactly. I have one year left and the fans know what I want.
“It’s going to be a really sad moment (if or when he leaves)”. If it turns out to be this summer, then it wouldn’t be sad, it would be criminal on Liverpool’s behalf.
But when it comes to allowing stellar forwards to leave Anfield, the Merseysiders have previous.
Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho all rode into the sunset at the peak of their careers, which is where Salah, 29, is now.
He is to Liverpool what Kevin De Bruyne is to Manchester City. Since returning to the Premier League in 2017, Salah has won six major trophies, throwing 155 goals in 245 appearances into the bargain.
He doesn’t have many peers in English football, but of the possible two he does have, he deserves to be earning the same as De Bruyne and Ronaldo.
Either Liverpool can’t recognise this or they simply don’t want to.
But whatever the reason happens to be, it feels unforgivable on their behalf.