Mo Salah signs new two-year contract at Liverpool

LAST UPDATE | 21 hrs ago

MONTHS OF SPECULATION about the future of Mohamed Salah has ended with confirmation today that the Premier League top scorer has signed a two-year contract extension with Liverpool. 

Salah’s contract was set to expire at the end of this season, and the uncertainty clouded Liverpool’s otherwise superb Premier League season, with Salah saying last November he was “probably more out than in” at Anfield. 

All has changed now, as he has snubbed the riches of reported interest from Saudi Arabia to extend his Anfield stay by another two years. 

“Of course I’m very excited,” said Salah. “We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.

“It’s great, I had my best years here. I played eight years, hopefully it’s going to be 10. Enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I had the best years in my career.

“I would like to say to [the fans], I am very, very happy to be here. I signed here because I believe we can win a lot of big trophies together. Keep supporting us and we’ll give it our best, and hopefully in the future we’re going to win more trophies.”

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot welcomed the positive message Salah’s contract extension sent out in terms of the club’s ambitions.

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Sporting director Richard Hughes has spent a large amount of his time working on the negotiations, in addition to those involving Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold who are also in their final three months.

But Slot admits it also required the financial backing of owners Fenway Sports Group to get it over the line after deviating from their policy of not handing players over 30 lucrative new contracts, with a cut in the forward’s reported £350,000-a-week (€403,000) wages never on the agenda in discussions.

“First of all, it’s Mo’s choice and his agent’s choice and what he wants. Second of all, the club; FSG, Richard, Michael Edwards (FSG’s football chief executive) put a lot of effort to influence that,” said Slot.

“Effort mostly means money – but also effort, not only money.

“It gives a positive vibe to the club, maybe a positive vibe we might not need but it’s always good to have positive vibes instead of negative vibes.

“If you want to sign new players or players who want to extend here, it is always a positive to see one of our star players over the last seven or eight years has made the choice to extend his contract.

“It also shows maybe how ambitious this club is: not only Mo, but the owners. We are really ambitious to keep performing the way this club has performed for so many years.”

Throughout the negotiations it was always both parties’ preference to reach this conclusion, but it is understood the club’s desire to recruit and retain the best talent had to fit in with their sporting, financial and overall best interests.

Therefore Salah’s deal had to fit into that framework, as will that of Van Dijk’s when it is likely confirmed in the near future.

Negotiations with Alexander-Arnold, who has been at the club for 20 years having joined aged six, are more complex as the pull of Real Madrid, who have been pursuing him for a year, is strong.

Slot believes Salah’s commitment to the club not only provides a boost to the team but can also help in the club’s summer recruitment drive, with the Egyptian setting the standards for others to follow.

“If I would put myself in the shoes of a player we might want to sign, it is always nice to tell them – and we don’t have to tell them now as it’s out in the open – that Mo is staying,” the head coach added ahead of Sunday’s visit of West Ham.

“So that helps, but what helps the most is we kept a quality player that has scored seven or eight years in a row so many goals for us.

“There are more players who can score goals, but Mo can score goals even if he is not in the best half hour or best 15 minutes and that’s why he is mentally so strong as well.

“You need to be that if you want to be at the highest level every three or four days for seven or eight years.”

Salah has scored 32 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions this season, and is the current top scorer in the Premier League with 27. He has added another 22 assists in a stunningly productive season. 

Salah signed from Roma in 2017, and is third on the list of the club’s all-time goalscorers with 243 goals in 394 appearances to date.