Topic: Mohamed Salah - Best in the World *

[Gerry Attrick]

US is often one step ahead in sports business, and they have some insanely long contracts going beyond 10 years sometimes. It feels like we have the same trend

It's only really baseball that use them and that's because swinging a bat is something that you can do for a lot of years, even when the legs go.

[Linudden]

It's only really baseball that use them and that's because swinging a bat is something that you can do for a lot of years, even when the legs go.

Patrick Mahomes says hello

[lamonti]

Some of you people want to give Salah an absolutely enormous wage in order to sell him. You give him a new contract to keep him at the club, not to give him resale value.

[kasperoff]

We probably can't afford to give him what he thinks he deserves. Oil clubs have completely shifted the landscape when it comes to wages and it means we probably stand to lose pretty much every player we coach into becoming world class and hit that 29/30 year old mark.

It's not FSG's fault that Man City can pay their top players £400,000 a week (and likely more). Man City are the problem, but seemingly no one seems to give a shit about them. The PL actually emboldened them by letting in Newcastle despite know exactly what will happen with them.

At this point I feel like I'll probably just pack it all in when Klopp leaves. I'm not interested in a game whereby some of the players are allowed to blatantly cheat. And it's pretty much constant. Kalvin Phillips at £45m today to play as backup to Rodri. It's absolutely obscene.

[dutchkop]

We probably can't afford to give him what he thinks he deserves. Oil clubs have completely shifted the landscape when it comes to wages and it means we probably stand to lose pretty much every player we coach into becoming world class and hit that 29/30 year old mark.

It's not FSG's fault that Man City can pay their top players £400,000 a week (and likely more). Man City are the problem, but seemingly no one seems to give a shit about them. The PL actually emboldened them by letting in Newcastle despite know exactly what will happen with them.

At this point I feel like I'll probably just pack it all in when Klopp leaves. I'm not interested in a game whereby some of the players are allowed to blatantly cheat. And it's pretty much constant. Kalvin Phillips at £45m today to play as backup to Rodri. It's absolutely obscene.

It is not only the Oil clubs paying these ridiculous wages.. Look at Barca, Messi, Griesman, de Jong, Suarez, Dembele, Pique, Busquets, Alba, Coutinho, all were earning more than Salah. United: Ronaldo, Pogba, deGea, Varane, Sancho, Martial, Cavani all earn more than Salah last season. Similar at Real Madrid, Bayern and Italian clubs.

[dutchkop]

Anybody think we will sell Salah this summer if the right offer comes in? What would the right offer look like?

[tubby]

Anybody think we will sell Salah this summer if the right offer comes in? What would the right offer look like?

Personally, I would.  I know others on here would rather keep him, but I'd want to get some money for him if he's definitely not signing a new contract.  You'd expect it would be higher than Mane, probably around £50m or so.

Would basically make the coming season a transitional one, though.  That's the issue.

[kasperoff]

It is not only the Oil clubs paying these ridiculous wages.. Look at Barca, Messi, Griesman, de Jong, Suarez, Dembele, Pique, Busquets, Alba, Coutinho, all were earning more than Salah. United: Ronaldo, Pogba, deGea, Varane, Sancho, Martial, Cavani all earn more than Salah last season. Similar at Real Madrid, Bayern and Italian clubs.

I don't have a problem with clubs spending what they earn, or deciding to get a massive loan. If they want to take risks then that's their prerogative and there are consequences. City, PSG and Newcastle can spend freely without risk. They are playing by different rules.

[jepovic]

It's only really baseball that use them and that's because swinging a bat is something that you can do for a lot of years, even when the legs go.

Not really, NHL has them too. NBA has plenty of 6-year contracts.

Nunez 6-year contract with Liverpool is clearly part of a general trend of longer contracts.

I don't think we'll see a lot of 10-year contracts in football, but 5-6 years will become increasingly common. There's a risk of getting stuck with an average or injured player, but that risk is fairly small financially compared with the risk of losing a player on a free. The first major contract is probably the one where the buying club has the most leverage

[marmite sw]

Anybody think we will sell Salah this summer if the right offer comes in? What would the right offer look like?

i think we should if his mind is made up to leave next summer then sell him now and seek a replacement  ...who ..i have no clue but its going to be a weird season id rather bed someone in this season than next ...not that i know anything i just trust klopp  .... my fear is mo will be in the headlines all season links to here there and everywhere and that will no be good for the team after all its liverpool fc not mo salah fc

[Mister Flip Flop]

I'm in a right bad mood today so i'll just come right out and say it, anyone blaming FSG for not paying Salah what he wants are right bad bastards.

This is all on the sport washing teams who have collectively ruined it for proper run clubs like ourselves. We are the most successful team in the league, we've won absolutely everything and teams like City and Newcastle fucking United could sign Salah if they wanted. The situation is frankly ridiculous.

[Oskar]

Anybody think we will sell Salah this summer if the right offer comes in? What would the right offer look like?

Hypothetically, if someone offered us £100m+, he wanted to go and we had a replacement lined up then yeah, I'd rather us sell than let him go for nothing.

But he's said he wants to stay for next season and I don't think it's a foregone conclusion just yet that he will leave next year - I think the club will make one more push to agree something with him over the summer and if nothing is sorted out before next season starts that would be it IMO, he'll go at the end of his contract.

[ToneLa]

I love Mo but surely he is rich enough

Anyway, I hope when the footie begins we just don't talk contract stuff!! it's been the same conversation for months..

[Cid]

Anybody think we will sell Salah this summer if the right offer comes in? What would the right offer look like?

Think he'd agree to go?

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

I love Mo but surely he is rich enough

Anyway, I hope when the footie begins we just don't talk contract stuff!! it's been the same conversation for months..

I think it's more of prestige stuff rather than being greedy. Apart from salary, he gets probably twice as much from other contracts (Oppo, Pepsi, Vodafone etc)

[Keith Lard]

Fucking sad the state of football. I couldn’t really be bothered if a player leaves because we don’t want to offer half a million a week lol … I think it’s already obscene what we pay players.

I’m in agreement, sadly, that it’s better to sell for a big fee if it protects our ability to compete long term. I never want us to be run by a rogue state or oil wealth, so I’m not sure what alternative we have.

[Keith Lard]

Defo think this trend of players holding clubs to ransom by winding down their contract for a big sell on fee is going to have ramifications. We may have to swallow this one, and use it as something that influences our decision making when negotiating future contracts.

Prob looking at longer contracts for players with great potential. I think you’re going to see more 20-23 year old signings on 6-7 year deals. I think we just need to keep switching up our transfer and contract negotiation strategies as best as we can. Biggest thing is we always need to retain the best in class operators off the field. Obscene contracts should be reserved for likes of Klopp and his staff, not players.

[Coolie High]

80-100m I’m still struggling to see who would go for that price or under and replace the impact and consistency of goals and assists, the names I can think of the likes of Neymar Benzema Mbappe aren’t at all feasible.


Losing two top 5 players in the world in one summer is not how you win big trophies the following season.

[WillG.LFC]

Defo think this trend of players holding clubs to ransom by winding down their contract for a big sell on fee is going to have ramifications. We may have to swallow this one, and use it as something that influences our decision making when negotiating future contracts.

Prob looking at longer contracts for players with great potential. I think you’re going to see more 20-23 year old signings on 6-7 year deals. I think we just need to keep switching up our transfer and contract negotiation strategies as best as we can. Biggest thing is we always need to retain the best in class operators off the field. Obscene contracts should be reserved for likes of Klopp and his staff, not players.

that can also back fire if they underperformed. Can get players stuck on decent wages no one wants. We call this the Phil Jones

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Yes, it is. Because the cost to the club of long term contracts with players on that list, who want twice as much money, or who are no longer starters, or who are simply not good enough to justify another long term contract, is far greater.

It includes not only the realized cost, but also the opportunity cost of not being able to bring in a younger, potentially better player, because the existing player is taking up a slot in the squad, and eating up payroll.

You could have a strict policy of putting a player up for sale the moment they get to within 2 years of contract end. But that would probably be self-defeating.  The player might be crucial to the team’s style, the buying clubs would game it, dressing room morale, etc

The only practical solution is to be sensible about transfer fees paid for the incoming player. To wait for players to run down their contracts. That is basically what clubs are doing. You don’t see those 150million, 200 million transfers anymore.

That's why we only got 30 million or so for Sadio, and it is why we will get far less than people think or perhaps expect to get, for Salah.

It's not though,especially for us and your idea of putting a player up for sale the moment they get to within 2 years of contract end is fine for Clubs that aren't arsed about building sides that are capable of winning shit on a regular basis,players would fucking love it though.

We are going to have to start giving huge resigning bonuses or settle for being nearly good enough.

[MNAA]

People should relax because
(1) Most likely we will not be able to meet Mo salary expectations/demands
(2) Very likely Mo will stay and play next season then leave on a free
(3) Quite unlikely though still possible that we sell Mo this summer if we can bring it a replacement in time

Love Mo but no player is indispensable and it’s always about the club and the team. We’ve been through this before (our best player leaving - Keegan, Souness, Rush, Owen, Torres and Suarez) and we’ll get through this again. We’ll be fine

[jepovic]

that can also back fire if they underperformed. Can get players stuck on decent wages no one wants. We call this the Phil Jones

Phil Jones was known to be shit when he got the new contract though.

Of course there's that risk, but overall it's probably worth it. Take Nunez as an example, who got 6 years rather than the typical 4. That's 2 extra years, which could cost maybe 15M extra. But that has to be weighed against the risk of losing him early or for a low fee, and then it's more like 50-100M that we could lose.

[farawayred]

It doesn't really matter what his demands are and why Slah wants to go. I'm with the club on this, we are not going to risk our future a la Barcelona for any player, and that's good enough for me. Yeah, I want to win the lottery too, but that ain't gonna happen with almost certainty.

The sad reality is that losing Salah will be akin to losing Suarez. Sure, different times, different opposition, different context. But the year after Salah leaves us, we'll go backward, we'd be on par for finishing 4th. We weren't "the team to beat" in 2013/14, but we nearly got the title with a magic player in our ranks. With City winning everything now, we kept one point adrift over 4 seasons with a magic player in our ranks. If we win the title next year it will be because of said player. Then we drop back to being good, but not top level, we'd be Chelsea circa 2022 level. At least for a year or two until we find that new magic player or grow it from our existing ranks (which are already impressive).

[Cafe De Paris]

Losing two top 5 players in the world in one summer is not how you win big trophies the following season.
[/quote]
That is a big gamble if that happens. But if it did and Mo left then Jurgen would of agreed to it. He has always said we will do it a certain way and that includes only paying wages to a certain level in accordance with the wage structure. There are a number of clubs now that will pay ridiculous wages, clubs that build new stadiums when the team is relegation fodder, and when the world economy is squeezing everyone you have to wonder how that happens.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

I think people would be losing their shit a bit more had the Boss not just re-signed,at the end of the day he is going to put another side together & that has me excited.

[BigRedFeetBed]

LIV have done to Golf in broad daylight what City are basically doing behind the scenes. Whatever way you look at it, there will be those who simply want more money. End of. And unfortunately, in football, teams like City and PSG etc are the ones to blame for that situation and ironically have the same sportswashing background

When Salah was into his last 2 years and he was approached about re-signing, the wrong thing to do, in my opinion would have been to advertise the possibility of him being up for sale. Maybe 2 years ago, the board were confident that there would have been something we could do on the back of an offer being rejected at the first attempt.

You cant please everyone all of the time. If we had put him up for sale 2 years ago after the first negotiation fell through, apart from the fact this may well have had a detrimental effect on Mo and where he felt he stood with the club for the next 2 years, there would have been chaos and fume in here from some because we were considering letting our biggest asset go. We have tried to negotiate and to date there has been little to no movement. Given the wage structure within the club, I imagine he/and/or his agent want more than we are prepared to pay based on what teams like City/PSG/ManU have now normalised for players of his stature and rightly get slated for!

I imagine Mo is surprised, as am I, that no one has made a public play for him so far in this transfer window (I dont know, but I am sure someone will tell me if I am wrong) but I wouldnt be surprised if some cheeky twat came in a week or 2 before the window closes with a derisory offer of £30m and we are then forced to show our hand.

Ideal scenarios in order of the maximum benefit to the club in my opinion:

1. Mo stays, commits to 2 more years based on increased performance related bonuses, has a blinder.

2. Mo leaves to a foreign club this summer paying us in the region of £50m (more would be a bonus, but i feel £50m is realistic)

3. Mo stays, plays a blinder, helps us win one or both of the big 2 and leaves as a legend on a free.

We still got Mo's best years!

Unfortunately there isnt a one size fits all solution and someone will inevitably feel they could have done better.

[killer-heels]

It doesn't really matter what his demands are and why Slah wants to go. I'm with the club on this, we are not going to risk our future a la Barcelona for any player, and that's good enough for me. Yeah, I want to win the lottery too, but that ain't gonna happen with almost certainty.

The sad reality is that losing Salah will be akin to losing Suarez. Sure, different times, different opposition, different context. But the year after Salah leaves us, we'll go backward, we'd be on par for finishing 4th. We weren't "the team to beat" in 2013/14, but we nearly got the title with a magic player in our ranks. With City winning everything now, we kept one point adrift over 4 seasons with a magic player in our ranks. If we win the title next year it will be because of said player. Then we drop back to being good, but not top level, we'd be Chelsea circa 2022 level. At least for a year or two until we find that new magic player or grow it from our existing ranks (which are already impressive).

I think we lose a lot by losing Salah but are you saying we drop to 4th without him? So Salah is keeping us ahead of Chelsea and Spurs?

[Eeyore]

80-100m I’m still struggling to see who would go for that price or under and replace the impact and consistency of goals and assists, the names I can think of the likes of Neymar Benzema Mbappe aren’t at all feasible.


Losing two top 5 players in the world in one summer is not how you win big trophies the following season.

We have Klopp.

The manager who signed Lewandowski for £4m and sold Coutinho for £138m.

I have a feeling we will be okay.

[killer-heels]

80-100m I’m still struggling to see who would go for that price or under and replace the impact and consistency of goals and assists, the names I can think of the likes of Neymar Benzema Mbappe aren’t at all feasible.


Losing two top 5 players in the world in one summer is not how you win big trophies the following season.

Nobody is replacing Salah, certainly nobody we are able to sign anyway. But then you dont need a Salah to win the league.

[Eeyore]

Nobody is replacing Salah, certainly nobody we are able to sign anyway. But then you dont need a Salah to win the league.

Klopp created a niche role for Salah that maximized his talent.

Don't kid yourself that Salah is going to hit similar numbers without the whole team playing for him. That is what happened at Liverpool.

If Mo leaves then we will adjust and other players will benefit.

[Gray Hamster]

Klopp created a niche role for Salah that maximized his talent.

Don't kid yourself that Salah is going to hit similar numbers without the whole team playing for him. That is what happened at Liverpool.

If Mo leaves then we will adjust and other players will benefit.

This is a regular conversation i have with my pals. We all agree no way Mo hits those numbers for any other club in world football.

[JackWard33]

Klopp created a niche role for Salah that maximized his talent.

Don't kid yourself that Salah is going to hit similar numbers without the whole team playing for him. That is what happened at Liverpool.

If Mo leaves then we will adjust and other players will benefit.

What niche role?!
Wide forward in a 433 …. Revolutionary stuff

[Linudden]

Torres signed a 6-year contract when he first arrived at Liverpool. It was later restructured with a higher weekly wage after one year but it remained due for 2013.

Both Messi and Ronaldo signed six-year deals around 2009. I'm pretty sure that Casillas did a 10-year deal at some point.

Mascherano was also negotiating for six years' extension back in early 2010 before talks broke down amid the financial crisis.

So it's not like six-year deals are rocket science inventions of the 2020s if anyone believed that.

[Dr Stu-Pid]

Klopp created a niche role for Salah that maximized his talent.

Don't kid yourself that Salah is going to hit similar numbers without the whole team playing for him. That is what happened at Liverpool.

If Mo leaves then we will adjust and other players will benefit.

So other players will benefit if the player that lead the PL in assists leaves the club?  Interesting.

What exactly is the niche role that Salah occupies?  Because last time I checked Salah’s numbers are not based on him being serviced by others, or the team playing to service his needs, he is part of a team and he is a key player in making this team tick.  Salah runs, tracks back, closes down, makes runs off the ball to create space, and plays passes for the benefit of his teammates, yet people still make out like he is Ronaldo at United who demands that the team is built around his strengths.

If anyone seriously thinks that Salah wouldn’t thrive in a Guardiola City team, or at Bayern, Barca, PSG,  etc then they are delusional.

In 2020/ 21 this team was a mess, but Salah was one of the few constant bright points.  Look at the goals of the season list on the Liverpool YouTube channel and it is basically Salah x 7 and an Alisson header.  Salah’s performances that season were arguably the biggest reason that we were able to actually play the CL at all last year.

Salah has put up numbers in the PL that put him right up there with Henry, Shearer, Kane, and Aguero.  If people want to diminish those numbers and claim that they are all down to Klopp then go ahead, but it doesn’t mean that you are right.

If you were to ask me if I would rather have Klopp or Salah then it is obviously Klopp 100% of the time, but we don’t need to denigrate our players to celebrate Klopp.

[Linudden]

There's no doubt that Salah is a world-class player and would be sorely missed. The question is obviously whether he can replicate the levels of his previous performances in his 30s. I tend to believe he can.

What is also true though is that he's not the best Liverpool player. That is none other than Virgil van Dijk and has been ever since he first sat foot on the pitch. It's not a coincidence that the team cratered when he hurt his knee during the 'echo stadium' season. I still find it a joke that he didn't get handed a successive player of the year award in 2020 because he was just as good as when he got robbed of the Ballon d'Or. He was basically the Eifel tower disguised as a defender those two seasons. It doesn't diminish Salah and his incredible talents, it's just that one of the best defenders in the history of the game is on the same team.

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

What niche role?!
Wide forward in a 433 …. Revolutionary stuff

I think it's more complicated than that. He wasn't playing only as wide forward when Bobby was on the pitch. Most of the time he transformed into #9 and was freed from defensive duties.

He won't hit those numbers at other clubs that's for sure but he won't hit with us either anymore. His role has changed more to traditional winger after we signed Diaz and moved Mane to #9. Now we have Nunez as #9 and Salah's role will remain the same.

[The G in Gerrard]

Every time this thread comes to top I hope it's with news he's extended contract.

[Coolie High]

I think it's more complicated than that. He wasn't playing only as wide forward when Bobby was on the pitch. Most of the time he transformed into #9 and was freed from defensive duties.

He won't hit those numbers at other clubs that's for sure but he won't hit with us either anymore. His role has changed more to traditional winger after we signed Diaz and moved Mane to #9. Now we have Nunez as #9 and Salah's role will remain the same.

He would get goals anywhere, like Mbappe Benzema Haaland Lewandowski get goals in the other leagues too, any assertion of him not scoring loads of goals elsewhere is just naive.

[farawayred]

I think we lose a lot by losing Salah but are you saying we drop to 4th without him? So Salah is keeping us ahead of Chelsea and Spurs?

No, I'm not saying we drop to fourth, nothing to do with a place in the table, but a level. I consider City and ourselves to be in a league of our own at the moment, Chelsea being the best of the rest last season. Spurs, Arsenal and United would have some way to go, but they may reach that level this coming season. That's where I expect us to be without Salah, in the mix with that bunch with a slight edge over most because we have a really good squad.

[farawayred]

Klopp created a niche role for Salah that maximized his talent.

Don't kid yourself that Salah is going to hit similar numbers without the whole team playing for him. That is what happened at Liverpool.

If Mo leaves then we will adjust and other players will benefit.

This, and I've said that myself in the past, is so true that I couldn't believe that Salah didn't sign a new contract. There a only a handful of teams that can afford him and in none of them he will be the focus of attack as he is here. He can go elsewhere and win more trophies, but we suit his talents to the tee, no one else.