Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has admitted that he has not spoken to the club about a new contract, with the Egyptian superstar due to enter the final two years of his current deal at the end of this season.
Salah signed that long-term contract until 2023 in the summer of 2018 at the end of his first year at Anfield, representing a reward for an incredible debut campaign in which he scored 44 goals, including 32 in the Premier League – a competition record in a 38-game season.
Since then, Liverpool have won both the Champions League and Premier League and Salah has remained one of the best players in the world. But he will be 31 when his current contract expires and his future at the club has been increasingly talked about.
Even though there are still two years to go before Liverpool run the risk of losing him as a free agent and there is no need to rush, Salah’s comments that talks haven’t started will only fuel the gossip.
“No one is talking to me about that, so I can't say much about that,” he told Sky Sports.
“No one in the club is talking to me about anything so I do not know.”
90min revealed in December that while Salah is not unhappy at Liverpool nor is he actively looking to leave, he feels there is still another step to take in his career and his representatives have already started looking at the potential options that might be available.
There is an acceptance that he is not as close with Jurgen Klopp as some players in the squad and if he were to leave Anfield, his preference would be Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Salah has been linked with Spain’s giants more than once in recent months. Speaking to Spanish publication AS in December, he refused to rule out the possibility in the future, while his response to a question from Marca in March about playing in La Liga was ‘why not?’
In January, Salah said that he will remain committed to Liverpool for as long as he is at the club, although his comments still left the question of his future somewhat open ended.
“If you ask, I say I want to stay here as long as I can, but, as I have said before, it is in the hands of the club,” he told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 at the time.
“I will always give 100 per cent to the last minute I am in this club and I want to win as many trophies as I can. And I want to give 100 per cent to the people, who show me love all the time.”
The decision that Liverpool will have to make over the coming months is whether a new contract for a player, who will turn 30 next year, is worth more or less to them than trying to sell him so they can reinvest some money back into the squad and build afresh for the next chapter.
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Source : 90min