Mohammed Salah's body language has been analysed by an expert after insisting he is still “far away from any progress” in talks over a new Liverpool contract. The Reds forward, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are all out of contract at Anfield in the summer.

Talks between Salah and Liverpool are deadlocked over a a new contract and there are fears on Merseyside that their star forward could sign a pre-contract with an overseas club. Amid speculations on his long-term future at the Reds, Salah continues to dazzle at Anfield – having been a stalwart since 2017 – with an impressive tally of 20 goals and 17 assists this season.

But in a recent interview with Sky Sports, Salah conceded that this period might represent his "last year" or "last six months" at Liverpool, though he implies this sentiment persists only until his future is decided.

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Now, body language expert Darren Stanton has offered his view on Salah's recent interview with Sky and what it could mean for the Egyptians' future on Merseyside.

"He is showing a genuine smile when he’s talking about the past, his past successes," Stanton said via OLBG. "The interesting non-verbal stuff comes when he starts to talk about his contract.

“He’s asked about the next six months, his future. There is this great open palm gesture. It’s really quick, maybe just half a second, immediately after he’s asked the question.

“What’s great about Mohamed Salah is that he is absolutely so authentic and straightforward. He speaks from the heart and he doesn’t prevaricate or try to be clever. He gives instantaneous answers and his body language of what he’s feeling internally is always consistent with what he’s saying.

“The fact he does that open palm gesture so quickly, that is a non-verbal gesture that suggests he is speaking from the heart, he is sincere. So even though he is unsure and uncertain of his future he remains super confident.”

However, Stanton admits that Salah's body language does not mean he isn't playing a game with Liverpool. Stanton believes Salah is a savvy operator, especially with the media.

"It’s absolutely possible that this is still a ploy to get Liverpool to make a move, maybe even highly probable," he added. "It could even be that he’s playing a bit of a Machiavellian mind game, making out he’s nonchalant and not bothered because he has other irons in the fire.

“That could well be the strategy. He is very very good at masking. Although the smile is genuine, he is actually very good with his body language. It’s always congruent with what he’s saying.

“It is possible for someone to maintain his baseline behaviour because when we spot someone being deceptive there is usually a forfeit and something called detection apprehension that needs to be present.

“For example, if someone is walking through customs their forfeit is that they could go to prison, so they may react differently. Whereas with Salah, if he knows he has other offers in the background that he doesn’t want to disclose, it’s quite possible to maintain his normal baseline behaviour.

“Because with Salah there are no direct consequences to being called out as such we didn’t see any of what we call deception leakage signals from him here. Out of all the managers and players I’ve assessed for their body language and control when speaking to the media, Mohamed Salah is probably the best and the most coherent.”