After his 10th goal and 10th assist of the season on Saturday night, speculation over Mohamed Salah‘s future will only increase in the next fortnight during the international break.
It’s an international break where Salah will not be involved for Egypt, being left out of their games against Cape Verde and Botswana due to concerns over the standard of artificial pitches that increase chance of injury.
Salah will instead have a two-week ‘break’, which is a huge positive for Liverpool going into the winter run of games that include Real Madrid and Man City in the week after the internationals.
Arabic reporter Ismael Mahmoud has claimed that the fortnight will provide time for “serious contract renewal negotiations.”
FEATURE: How Liverpool negotiated Salah’s last contract renewal
Mahmoud writes on X:
“I’ve been told that Mohamed Salah staying at Liverpool during the international break will be very important for the club to begin serious contract renewal negotiations.
“Been told too that Liverpool knows Salah is asking for a new two-year contract.”
Of course, while Mahmoud’s claims cannot be taken as gospel, he is a legitimate reporter with links to Egyptian sources.
If accurate, Salah is seeking a two-year extension to his current deal, which of course expires at the end of the current campaign. A new deal of that nature would tie him to the Reds up to 2027, when he would be 35.
Salah’s form this season has been highly impressive despite now being 32 years old. He now has 75 assists in the Premier League and will be eyeing becoming only the third player in PL history to record 100 assists and 100 goals; the other two being Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney.
Salah is likely to visit Dubai during the international break, where his agent, Ramy Abbas lives and where negotiations over his last contract negotiation took place.
Salah’s last contract renewal, in 2022, saw him become the highest-paid player in the club’s history on a reported £350,000 per week basic salary.
The player has intimated his desire to stay at the club, including via a somewhat cryptic social media post last week in which he wrote: “All teams win matches but there’s only 1 champion in the end. That’s what we want.”
A banner on The Kop pre-match on Saturday against Aston Villa implored owners FSG to ‘pay Salah his dough’.
Merseyside reporter David Lynch said this week that he believes Salah wants to remain at Liverpool and set new records for the club and the Premier League:
“I think all of his actions show a player who would really like to stay at Liverpool and I think he wants to keep climbing that Premier League top scorers list, same as the Liverpool list as well,” Lynch explained.
“I just think when you’ve got a player who is clearly that desperate to stay, I don’t think he’s going to be sitting there saying, ‘if you don’t give me three years, I’m going to leave’.
“I think there is an openness to compromise from his side which really, really bodes well for Liverpool.”
OPINION: Liverpool need to take the hint after Salah’s cryptic contract message
