but team-mate and fellow attacker Mohamed Salah is going nowhere this summer, regardless of whether he signs a new contract.
The prolific Egypt international intends to snub any attempts to prise him out of Anfield during the upcoming transfer window. He’s fully committed to Jurgen Klopp’s side for 2022-23 and is adamant his head won’t be turned by any of the other European heavyweights.
However, beyond next summer, Salah’s future is increasingly uncertain. Unless the 29-year-old receives a significantly improved contract offer from Liverpool, he will leave as a free agent at the end of next season. In that scenario, Salah’s preference would be to stay in the Premier League rather than head overseas.
This off-season is pivotal in the context of Salah’s career.
Liverpool’s owners insist they want to retain the services of the recently crowned Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year, but the clock is ticking as he prepares to enter the final 12 months of a contract he signed in the summer of 2018.
The Athletic understands that Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon, rather than outgoing sporting director Michael Edwards or his successor Julian Ward, has been leading discussions with Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas.
However, there have been no face to face talks since December, when Dubai-based Abbas flew to Miami to meet Gordon. During those negotiations, it became clear that there was a vast disparity between what one party wanted and what the other was willing to offer. A revised set of demands were subsequently submitted via email but the stand-off rumbled on through the second half of the season.
The exact numbers involved remain unclear. Contracts at Liverpool are complex with a whole host of bonuses linked to individual and team performance. They also have a wage structure the owners are reluctant to break. Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Thiago are in the top bracket of earners.
Sources close to the player insist what Salah was offered effectively amounted to a 15 per cent pay rise on his current terms, which they felt under-valued his status in world football.
Having assessed what other elite performers across the European game are earning, they believe the wages he’s seeking at Liverpool would make him the sixth-best-paid footballer on the planet. Earlier this season, Salah himself insisted he wasn’t asking for “crazy stuff”.
Salah, who has scored 156 goals in 254 games since a £43.9 million move from Roma in the summer of 2017, turns 30 in a couple of weeks but has just equalled his second-best-ever return over a single season with 31 goals in all competitions as Liverpool won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup before narrowly missing out on Premier League and Champions League glory. He’s also incredibly durable — averaging over 50 club appearances a season during his five years on Merseyside.
He shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Tottenham’s Son Heung-min on 23 goals and won the award for most top-flight assists after creating a further 13. He’s happy at Liverpool and settled living in Cheshire with wife Magi and daughters Makka and Kayan. But he wants a contract which he believes is representative of his importance and value to a team challenging for the biggest prizes in European football.
There has been speculation that the length of a possible extension is a stumbling block. However, The Athletic has learned that Salah would be willing to sign a new two-year deal if the terms were right. He’s not looking for the security of a four-year contract. He’s a model professional and is convinced he will continue to deliver at the highest level well into his mid-30s.
As Liverpool prepare to launch another attempt to thrash out a compromise with Salah and avoid the prospect of the issue rumbling on into next season, new sporting director Ward will be tasked with lining up a replacement for Mane.