Topic: Mohamed Salah - Best in the World *

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

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?

We actually did pretty fantastic whilst Mane and Salah were at AFCON. During that period we closed the gap with City, which was quite surprising for many who thought we will fall off the cliff.

[Nick110581]

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

Zero chance of that.

He would have signed ages ago if he was going too.

[Kenny's Jacket]

Should we be making more of an attempt to sell him then?

The discussion I got into was how fine we were with the situation. I am sure before Salah said anything we had stories saying we wouldn't sell him this summer. If that is the case, then the club are just going to have to get on with it and not get bothered by Klopp being asked about it constantly (which  to be fair I am sure they are).

I just dont know how you can conclude we are fine with it. Its an assumption based on no evidence.

[killer-heels]

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.

I dont care what he does elsewhere, i care about what we do to replace his goals.

Feel like people are underestimating the probable loss of two world class forwards.

[SamLad]

I dont care what he does elsewhere, i care about what we do to replace his goals.

Feel like people are underestimating the probable loss of two world class forwards.

we lost them during AFCON and managed to do OK.

[Crosby Nick]

we lost them during AFCON and managed to do OK.

A month (with 3 easy-ish league games) is a bit different permanently.

I’d rather he left on a free next summer than for a feee now. At least in a year you’ve had a season for Nunez to bed in and another year if Diaz too.

If we did lose Mané and Salah I think realistically we would have to lower expectations for the season a bit and aim to rebuild for the following season.

[SamLad]

A month (with 3 easy-ish league games) is a bit different permanently.

I’d rather he left on a free next summer than for a feee now. At least in a year you’ve had a season for Nunez to bed in and another year if Diaz too.

If we did lose Mané and Salah I think realistically we would have to lower expectations for the season a bit and aim to rebuild for the following season.

of course, but it shows that the squad and coaches can adjust,  and we have more options now.

[The G in Gerrard]

Zero chance of that.

He would have signed ages ago if he was going too.

Trying to be optimistic Everything does point to him leaving on a free.

Whilst our transfer dealings have been excellent. I'd rather we kept a world class talent.

[ScubaSteve]

99% certain he’ll go on a free transfer next season. Can he just make an announcement of his intentions and end all this speculation. It’s gonna get boring very quickly once the season starts. The media will talk about it EVERY game we play. If he goes, good luck and we move on…

[The G in Gerrard]

99% certain he’ll go on a free transfer next season. Can he just make an announcement of his intentions and end all this speculation. It’s gonna get boring very quickly once the season starts. The media will talk about it EVERY game we play. If he goes, good luck and we move on…

Announcing it anytime before or during season will just lead to some on this thread posting weekly about him not giving 100% etc etc. It'd be a bad idea.

[killer-heels]

99% certain he’ll go on a free transfer next season. Can he just make an announcement of his intentions and end all this speculation. It’s gonna get boring very quickly once the season starts. The media will talk about it EVERY game we play. If he goes, good luck and we move on…

No way, who knows how the Anfield crowd would react? Klopp would also still get questioned.

[rob1966]

No way, who knows how the Anfield crowd would react? Klopp would also still get questioned.

We knew Keegan was leaving at the start of his last season, Rush had been sold to Juve and spent 12 months on loan with us first and neither got anything I remember in terms of abuse from the crowd and I cannot see Mo getting treated any differently by the crowd. Twats on twitter will give him shit, but that's to be expected from that cesspit.

A month (with 3 easy-ish league games) is a bit different permanently.

I’d rather he left on a free next summer than for a feee now. At least in a year you’ve had a season for Nunez to bed in and another year if Diaz too.

If we did lose Mané and Salah I think realistically we would have to lower expectations for the season a bit and aim to rebuild for the following season.

My feelings too. We were always going to have to replace them and likely within a short period of time, and like you, I'd much prefer to do it over the 12 month period rather than both together. Klopp and his team probably already have Mo's replacement sorted anyway for 12 months from now.

[killer-heels]

We knew Keegan was leaving at the start of his last season, Rush had been sold to Juve and spent 12 months on loan with us first and neither got anything I remember in terms of abuse from the crowd and I cannot see Mo getting treated any differently by the crowd. Twats on twitter will give him shit, but that's to be expected from that cesspit.

My feelings too. We were always going to have to replace them and likely within a short period of time, and like you, I'd much prefer to do it over the 12 month period rather than both together. Klopp and his team probably already have Mo's replacement sorted anyway for 12 months from now.

That was a long time ago. Again, not sure how it all plays out, rather we just get on with it and Klopp, Salah and the club deal with it as normal.

[Kenny's Jacket]

I'd much prefer to do it over the 12 month period rather than both together. Klopp and his team probably already have Mo's replacement sorted anyway for 12 months from now.

Does an extra 12 months in time make it easier to replace him than having a very theoretical 50m in cash?

Maybe but Im not convinced.

[rob1966]

That was a long time ago. Again, not sure how it all plays out, rather we just get on with it and Klopp, Salah and the club deal with it as normal.

It was but the match going crowd hasn't changed that much, thousands of supporters going then are still going now.

Does an extra 12 months in time make it easier to replace him than having a very theoretical 50m in cash?

Maybe but Im not convinced.

No, but I'd rather have 12 months of Mo than £50 million.

He'll possibly earn us that £50 million anyway in shirt sale income and prize money during next season. According the FIFA authorised Euromericas Marketing Agency, there were 816,000 Salah shirts sold in 2021. We get 20% of each sale from Nike, so at £15 a shirt, that's just over £12 million from shirt sales alone. We ended up with just under £90 million in CL prize money last season, over £100 million in total with TV money etc, so his being here could be worth £40 million if his goals get us all the way to the final (I assuming we'd be good enough to get out of the group without Mo in the team).

[nerdster4]

Trying to replace Salah and mane in the same window and bed in two forwards into a starting 11 is a huge risk . A gradual transition over 12 months makes a lot of sense . It’s interesting because apart from an unavailable Mbappe there aren’t a lot of players in his Position I can see coming in and replacing his  numbers but then when we signed him his numbers were an utter surprise . Maybe someone will explode onto the scene next season . I have a lot of time for jarod Bowen for example but he is not close and it’s very different carrying Liverpool type expectations on your shoulders

[Eeyore]

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.

Klopp created a lop side three with Salah as our highest player. He was given far less defensive responsibilities and crucially we played with a false 9 whose job was to drag the opposition centre backs up the pitch to create space for Salah. That meant Salah could drift inside and get shots off with his left foot.

One of our main attacking patterns of play has been to isolate Salah one v one on the edge of the opposition area.

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.

City use their wide players in a totally different way. Their full backs sit deeper and narrower than ours and it is the responsibility of the wide players to create the width, get to the byeline and pull the ball back for onrushing midfield players. So unless Salah was played as a central striker then he is getting nowhere near the number of goals he has scored at Liverpool.

With Bobby injured and Diaz coming in to the side we have become less reliant on Salah and predictably the goals started to dry up because our build up play became more varied. 

[Nick110581]

To be honest, you would surely sell him at this stage.

[BazC]

Think he leaves next summer on a free for a massive payday - fair play to him. Don’t think we will see him leave this summer unless there’s another lined up and i think that’s ok. 6 months of Salah playing for his big payday is the best player in the world, as we saw in the first half of last season. When he finds his deal, you just have to sideline him - fell off a cliff in terms of performance as the contact talks last season reached a wall. I don’t think it was the “disappointment” of Afcon or fatigue that saw that drop in performance but underlying frustration on however those contract talks went. Again, fair enough - I don’t think we should be paying him the oil money, even though he’s up there with the best players to have played for the club. But he should also be allowed to go and get his payday, he’s delivered more than enough for this club - I would happily see him go into beast mode again to win his next big contract, wherever it is, and enjoy watching that next 6 months. It’s the following period, when he’s sorted his next club and wants to make sure he’s not jeopardising that move that i think will need to be handled. Hopefully Nunez, Dias, Jota have already more than filled the void by then. Also hoping for a Firmino resurgence and Carvalho wildcard (and Elliott in the mix too).

More than enough for us to look forward to next season even with this. Couldn’t give a shit if he leaves personally, it’ll happen eventually either way. End of an era, given Mane’s left, and he’s likely next, but there’s enough to look forward to. As long as the goals, the top class football and most importantly, the wins, keep coming, we’re having a great time supporting the club and team. We’ll be here looking for the Reds to give us the great times and we’ll sing our hearts out on the way - couldn’t give much of a shit on who’s actually playing, as long as they’re doing their job. All the players come and go, when Salah goes, like Mane, can only wish them the very best given their achievements here.

[killer-heels]

To be honest, you would surely sell him at this stage.

No thanks.

Do people not want to win the league?

[killer-heels]

I just dont know how you can conclude we are fine with it. Its an assumption based on no evidence.

Well then we have a problem because we will have a player that Klopp doesnt want to lose and him getting questioned all the time about it. If the club are not fine with that, then they need to sign him up or make more of an effort to sell.

[fowlermagic]

If he is here at the end of the transfer window then we can maximise his final season with us as perfect way to blend in Nunez and also gives us 12 more months to find a replacement. Might even buy someone next January and have an amazing chance of winning another title

[Nick110581]

No thanks.

Do people not want to win the league?

Of course they do.

The circus that will surround him if he doesn’t sign up will be huge.

[killer-heels]

Of course they do.

The circus that will surround him if he doesn’t sign up will be huge.

Id rather that than win less football matches.

[Nick110581]

Id rather that than win less football matches.

Could be a distraction for the squad / him.

Makes everyone lose focus and the big thing with our sides is everyone is collectively in it together

[DelTrotter]

It'll be fine. Though every day on here there will be people saying "it's a circus" "it's gonna ruin morale" then we'll keep winning every week like usual.

[farawayred]

Just give me the pre-AFCON Salah for a year, and we'll talk about distractions later. Yeah, it's not an ideal situation, but professionals on both sides would know how to deal with it.

[Tiz Lad]

Just my view, it's looking obvious that Salah is looking to go on a free next summer. Appears no change in stance from either part. Think Salah will start the season well, and as January approaches and the multiple approaches happen, he will get distracted thinking of which move is best for him.

If we could get £75m I'd sell and look to get in some form of replacement, won't be anything like as good or get Salah’s numbers, but he'll have to be replaced next summer anyway

If you keep him, we have to get replacements for him Firmino and the supposed move for Bellingham, no chance of that in the same window. So replacing him allows us to plan. But the power is all with Salah and his knobhead agent though, so we're powerless

[killer-heels]

Just my view, it's looking obvious that Salah is looking to go on a free next summer. Appears no change in stance from either part. Think Salah will start the season well, and as January approaches and the multiple approaches happen, he will get distracted thinking of which move is best for him.

If we could get £75m I'd sell and look to get in some form of replacement, won't be anything like as good or get Salah’s numbers, but he'll have to be replaced next summer anyway

If you keep him, we have to get replacements for him Firmino and the supposed move for Bellingham, no chance of that in the same window. So replacing him allows us to plan. But the power is all with Salah and his knobhead agent though, so we're powerless

Why do we have to budget for a Firmino replacement yet. We will have Carvalho who we would hope can contribute in attack and I would go as far as to say that Bobby could very well be the 5th choice attacker for us this season. So even if Carvalho takes a while to settle, it doesn't have to be a huge transfer to replace a 5th choice attacker.

We should have the money to replace Salah with a 30-50m player and an expensive midfielder.

[Kenny's Jacket]

b] If the club are not fine with that, then they need to sign him up or make more of an effort to sell.[/b]

How?  My whole point n this discussion is that Salah has all the power. Hes already stated he is going to stay for the season, fuck all we can do about that when hes got a contract. They are trying to sign him up but he isnt signing.
As I've said there is no evidence to suggest we are fine wit the situation.

[killer-heels]

How?  My whole point n this discussion is that Salah has all the power. Hes already stated he is going to stay for the season, fuck all we can do about that when hes got a contract. They are trying to sign him up but he isnt signing.
As I've said there is no evidence to suggest we are fine wit the situation.

Even before Salah stated he was staying, for a while we have had press stories saying that there was no chance of us selling him this summer.

[Jon2lfc]

Just my view, it's looking obvious that Salah is looking to go on a free next summer. Appears no change in stance from either part. Think Salah will start the season well, and as January approaches and the multiple approaches happen, he will get distracted thinking of which move is best for him.

If we could get £75m I'd sell and look to get in some form of replacement, won't be anything like as good or get Salah’s numbers, but he'll have to be replaced next summer anyway

If you keep him, we have to get replacements for him Firmino and the supposed move for Bellingham, no chance of that in the same window. So replacing him allows us to plan. But the power is all with Salah and his knobhead agent though, so we're powerless

OR
if he is thinking of next season being his last with us, he'll "do a Suarez" and go out with a bang!
Racking those goals and assists up in a whirlwind of a season to propel us to the PL and deep into all cups..

(we just now need a "Stevie G" to give him a similar rocket up the arse..)

[Tiz Lad]

OR
if he is thinking of next season being his last with us, he'll "do a Suarez" and go out with a bang!
Racking those goals and assists up in a whirlwind of a season to propel us to the PL and deep into all cups..

(we just now need a "Stevie G" to give him a similar rocket up the arse..)

Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, his agent will be on to him every day to sort out the destination as soon as they start coming in, and it will (in my opinion) distract him - The days of rockets up arses are long gone - and making him Suarez stay till he got his Barca move, is wildly different, Suarez signed a contract so at least we got a decent fee. That's not the same here

He and his agent have all the power now - It would have been sorted over a year ago if it was going to be sorted

The thing that has disappointed me most are the interviews that it's not all about the money, when it quite clearly is money and image rights most likely - So again personally don't want to hear anything from Salah over the contract again this season. Sign or say nowt. He's not signing, so I'm happy for him to say nowt, get his head down and score as many as he can

[Mighty_Red]

The only reasons we would sell a players are:
- they are surplus to requirements
- they want to leave
- we get such an outrageous offer that it's impossible to ignore

We are not going to sell players because we "don't want to lose them on a free". This is even more the case for first choice players.l

Mane would likely still be here if he wanted to stay but he didn't so we have sold him.

A players value to the side for the duration of his contract is something  that's taken into account. We are basically getting Mo on the cheap for the last 2 years of his contract so we have saved on big resigning fees and increased wages. Any fee we get this summer would be reduced by loyalty bonuses and other fees.

[dutchkop]

The only reasons we would sell a players are:
- they are surplus to requirements
- they want to leave
- we get such an outrageous offer that it's impossible to ignore

We are not going to sell players because we "don't want to lose them on a free". This is even more the case for first choice players.l

Mane would likely still be here if he wanted to stay but he didn't so we have sold him.

A players value to the side for the duration of his contract is something  that's taken into account. We are basically getting Mo on the cheap for the last 2 years of his contract so we have saved on big resigning fees and increased wages. Any fee we get this summer would be reduced by loyalty bonuses and other fees.

sounds logical and makes sense - however  there is a strategy at the club to not over pay players in the last few years of their contracts - even if they are world class like Sadio Mane and now maybe Salah - either way still a risky business. And there is always the chance of trophies, playing with the best and winning things, but money and agents power/greed also play a role. It also is risky that allows quality like Sadio to go on the cheap and also maybe Salah on a free - which is crazy business for some club. Although there is still 13 months for things to change

I think Salah was close to signing before the latest Barca tapping up. I think Saido was also tapped up by Bayern.

I just hope that Liverpool and Salah get off to a flyer next month and start the season at the top of their game and the new signings do the busineess

I just hope whatever Salah does it does not bring about to much a drop off of our attacking prowess on the field.  I do believe that we can go again and bed in the new players, and maybe have the football gods shine on us again this season.

[Gods_Left_Boot]

He's much more valuable to us playing this year out and then leaving on a free than any reduced fee we might get for him with one season left on his deal. We will already have to integrate in our system another new forward in Nunez, bringing in Mo's replacement already this summer could cause a lot of disruption.

[Mighty_Red]

sounds logical and makes sense - however  there is a strategy at the club to not over pay players in the last few years of their contracts - even if they are world class like Sadio Mane and now maybe Salah - either way still a risky business.

It's always been the case, we've been quick to continually tie players down to new contracts. The problem now is that you have the likes of Utd and the Oil states paying insane wages, and when our players want the same it starts to go beyond what the club can afford.

There's still every chance that a deal will be done, let's see how it plays out.

[Kenny's Jacket]

Even before Salah stated he was staying, for a while we have had press stories saying that there was no chance of us selling him this summer.

That only works if you assume that when Salah said I will definitely be here next season in that interview, that it was also news to the club.  Trying to sell him when he's stated he doesnt want to go isnt great for harmony.

[dutchkop]

He's much more valuable to us playing this year out and then leaving on a free than any reduced fee we might get for him with one season left on his deal. We will already have to integrate in our system another new forward in Nunez, bringing in Mo's replacement already this summer could cause a lot of disruption.

I think this is key.. Not only replace Salah and  integrate Nunez,, but also replace all the goals from Mane , Origi and Minamino 

and make decisions on Firmino and Keita

[FLRed67]

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.

2020/21 season? We made the CL because of the winning run in the last month. Bobby, Sadio and Ali scored the winning goals. Thiago was finally fit and took control of the midfield.

Between Christmas 2020 and Spring 2021 we won about 2 league matches. Virgil, Thiago, Jota were missing. With Fab and Hendo randomly assigned to play in defence.

Salah played in all of those games in that period. He was as useful as a potted plant.

Oh, and in Guardiola’s team, Salah would be instructed to get to bye-line and cut the ball back. Or he would be dropped.