Mohamed Salah is a stoic and typically private individual; a world-class footballer who, more often than not, prefers to do his talking on the pitch – and to great effect at that.
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
But he also knows how to ruffle feathers when he needs to.
Case in point, the hours after Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Southampton – a game his brace decided in favour of the Reds, sending them eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
As Arne Slot and his squad headed out of the player’s entrance at St Mary’s, Salah made a very rare beeline to the assembled press standing in the post-storm conditions in what is referred to in the media as the mixed zone.
For those unaware, the mixed zone is an area – away from a stadium’s dedicated room where press conferences are held and match reports are hastily filed – that allows national and local journalists to speak directly to players after a game.
More often than not, their attempts to attract most players will be in vain, with there typically a handful who will oblige – in Liverpool’s case, usually their captain Virgil van Dijk – but Salah himself is notable in how infrequent his stops are.
That ensured his comments on contract talks with the club served as a direct message.
Mohamed Salah only speaks on his terms and, in this case, it was to make clear to the wider public that he was “disappointed” with a lack of progress.
“We are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club. I’m probably more out than in [next season],” he explained.
“You know I have been in the club for many years. There is no club like this. But in the end, it is not in my hands.
“As I said before, it is December and I haven’t received anything yet about my future. I love the fans. The fans love me. In the end, it is not in my hands or the fans’ hands. Let’s wait and see.”
Rather than the day after Liverpool’s victory at Southampton seeing fans relish another three points, that Monday became the backdrop for a furore over the club’s inability to so far tie down any of Salah, Virgil van Dijk or Trent Alexander-Arnold to new deals.
All three players are among the best in the world and by that token among the most important players in Slot’s squad, and that they have all been allowed to move into the final months of their contracts does not reflect well on the club.
There are mitigating factors, of course, not least the unprecedented changes off the pitch over the past 12 months and even beyond that.
Jürgen Klopp’s resignation shocked everyone, and though those within Liverpool’s boardroom knew of his plans to leave before the public, they certainly weren’t expecting him to push for the exit as soon as he did.
That left Fenway Sports Group with the task of replacing one of the club’s most legendary figures and ensure continuity for a squad in the process of a rebuild of its own, which was made more difficult by events even before Klopp communicated his desire to move on.
Suggestions of a power struggle between Klopp and those within the Reds’ recruitment staff clouded the departures of two sporting directors in quick succession, with Michael Edwards and Julian Ward replaced in the interim by Jorg Schmadtke.
Schmadtke’s role was, by his own admission, to simply exact Klopp’s plans in the transfer market; the German’s remit did not stretch beyond that and certainly did not include long-term strategy when it came to contracts.
That was only exacerbated by FSG president Mike Gordon – who was central to finalising Salah’s last contract extension back in 2022 – stepping back from his duties as the ownership group briefly considered selling the club.
Forgive those brought in as part of their post-Klopp reshuffle, then, for not making new contracts their No. 1 priority over the past months.
New sporting director Richard Hughes, in tandem with the returning Edwards, was first required to identify and appoint Slot’s successor, before allowing the head coach time to assess his squad during pre-season and address any needs in the transfer market.
That clearly delayed the start of talks with the representatives of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, but it has not muted the fears of those watching on from the outside.
From Salah’s point of view, it is understandable that he would be frustrated at a lack of formal offers given his clear desire to stay at Liverpool beyond the end of the season, but there is more than a measure of brinkmanship from his part too.
A major factor in this will be the ongoing uncertainty over Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold’s futures, with it a case of who blinks first in signing new terms as all three will consider themselves worthy of club-record salaries.
The ideal scenario will be all three players eventually committing their futures beyond the end of the campaign – but it would appear any resolution is still far off.
But as the pressure on the club’s hierarchy increases, it is worth questioning the deliberate timing of Salah’s comments, which came on the eve of the biggest week of Slot’s reign so far.
Liverpool host Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night and Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon; two clashes that could propel them closer to the success that Salah and his teammates covet.
To divert the narrative from those two fixtures was, in the opinion of Jamie Carragher, “selfish” of Salah and his representative, Ramy Abbas Issa – an individual whose focus is purely on achieving the best for his sole client – with the club legend “desperate for them to meet in the middle” but “very disappointed” at attempts to create a sideshow.
“The most important thing for Liverpool Football Club this season is not the future of Mo Salah, it’s not the future of Virgil van Dijk and it’s not the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold,” Carragher asserted.
“The most important thing is Liverpool winning the Premier League. That is more important than any of those players.”
Slot himself has insisted that the situation is not a distraction for himself, Salah or his teammates, insisting that, for him, “my main focus is the next game.”
However, it is clearly a delicate situation which Salah has attempted to steer back into his control, but it should not detract from what promises to be a blockbuster week for the Reds.
Because why else do we follow Liverpool, and the sport itself, if not for the actual football on a midweek and a weekend?
Mixed zones, sporting directors, agents and salaries are necessary parts of the modern game, but they remain in the background when it comes to the 90-plus minutes that play out on the pitch every three or four days.
A player of Salah’s ilk undoubtedly provides the flourish in those 90-plus minutes, and all being well the parties involved will find a compromise – whether that is in the length of his new contract or the wages he is paid.
But that the narrative has been allowed to shift from arguably Liverpool’s most high-profile week of football in years and onto the decision-makers behind the scenes is not what fans really deserve.
(Images from IMAGO)
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