Journalist Graham Hunter has recently provided some insight into the situation of Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah.
Hunter appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the OTB Football podcast and the panel talked about multiple issues involving Spanish football. One topic of discussion was the future of Salah and whether he’d want a move to Spain in the near future. Hunter provided an in-depth look at his situation and he believes that there might be some jockeying going on from Salah’s side, when it comes to his new contract.
Last month, Salah had given an interview to AS saying that he was disappointed to not have been handed the captain’s armband for Liverpool’s European tie against Midtjylland. He had also refused to rule out a potential move to Barcelona or Real Madrid in the future. Meanwhile, The Telegraph’s Sam Wallace has recently reported that the Egyptian is unlikely to join Barca or Real.
Hunter talked about Salah’s situation and he highlighted two possibilities, with one of them pointing towards the fact that the forward wants to earn more.
He said “Look what happened – again, you have to read through the lines a little bit. Mo Salah, who doesn’t speak Spanish, when he wasn’t picked as captain for Liverpool’s last game in the Champions League game against Midtjylland, who knew he’s going to make such a fuss about that? And Klopp has said candidly he thinks he made a mistake.
“In my opinion, Mo Salah and his people said, we’ll make a huge fuss about that. They invite Diario AS from Madrid over to the Manchester suburb where they meet and they talk pleasantries. There was one remark about, you never know about Real Madrid, Barcelona, but it’s in the hands of the club. This ‘in the hands of the club’ is definitely about – I’m a megastar, pay me mega money.
“Liverpool are not soft touches. I’ve been party to two or three deals. I’ve been told a little bit about when Liverpool say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the offer of a player who’s going to move. Liverpool have a much stricter wage scale at the top level that they are stubbornly unwilling to budge from. And I think that’s what Salah is bumping his head against. There are two things: one, he’s saying, ‘look what we’ve done, look what I’ve done, look at trophies – mega money, please. Secondly, I think there’s a degree of ego about the grass might be greener elsewhere. So there’s a bit of jockeying going on.”
TIF Thoughts on Hunter’s comments on Salah…
Salah is currently Liverpool’s highest goalscorer this season and has found the back of the net 13 times, while picking up three assists. His contributions to the team in the past are well-known and it shows his importance for Liverpool.
So while he is now 28, he still is a very influential talent for Jurgen Klopp’s men. Having said that, his current deal at Anfield runs out in the summer of 2023 and he will be around 30 by then. If his value starts to decrease before then, perhaps Liverpool should look to sell him and replace him with someone younger if they want to stand a chance of making a profit on the £34 million that they spent to sign him.