Mohamed Salah’s cryptic comment renews doubt about his Liverpool future

Mohamed Salah has prompted more uncertainty about his Liverpool future with a social media post indicating his Anfield career may be nearing its end.

Salah’s post on X was ambiguous, but the sentiment was more nostalgic than forward-thinking as he remarked upon his winning goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

“No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like,” wrote Salah.

In the same post, the Egyptian made it clear that Liverpool only have the Premier League title in their sights after returning to the top of the Premier League.

“Top of the table is where this club belongs. Nothing less,” the forward added.“All teams win matches but there is only one champion in the end. That’s what we want. Thank you for your support last night.”

It is not the first time this season that Salah has struck such a tone. After Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over Manchester United last September, Salah said he was beginning his farewell season.

“As you know, it’s my last year in the club,” he told Sky Sports. “I just want to enjoy it, I don’t want to think about it. I feel I’m free to play football and let’s see what’s going to happen next year.”

Such remarks have been interpreted as an attempt to pressure Liverpool’s owners to give Salah a new contract, especially as the comments have immediately followed his more stellar contributions.

Salah’s current deal is worth more than £350,000 a week but he will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs in January and could leave on a free transfer next May.

The contract impasse involving Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold has continued to cast a shadow over Liverpool’s brilliant start to the season. Arne Slot has won eight of his first 10 Premier League games and also claimed a 100 per cent win rate in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

But some of Liverpool’s biggest wins have been followed by remarks from star players underlining that they are still awaiting an acceptable contract offer from the club.

Liverpool must not let emotion override logic

There will come a time when Liverpool win a football match without the politics of contractual situations coming to the fore. Alas, Saturday’s victory over Brighton proved no such occasion.

Mohamed Salah took to social media on Sunday to deliver one of those suitably cryptic posts which give the impression they have been carefully deliberated to maximise how best to tug the heartstrings of those who idolise him.

“Top of the table is where this club belongs. Nothing less,” wrote Salah. “All teams win matches but there is only one champion in the end. That’s what we want. Thank you for your support last night. No matter what happens, I will never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like.”

Read into that what you wish.

Plenty have, of course, the immediate replies sensing that the phrase “no matter what happens” means all is not well with contract talks and pleading with Salah to sign a renewal. Such responses are anticipated. No Liverpool supporter wants Salah to leave. They also wish Sir Kenny Dalglish was still playing upfront and Steven Gerrard was wearing No 8, but unfortunately time is the only opponent the greatest players can never defeat.

Salah’s position as one of the best is cast in stone, Dalglish, Gerrard, Graeme Souness, John Barnes, Ian Rush and Alan Hansen can welcome another two team-mates into their all-time XI with Salah and Virgil van Dijk.

Everything Salah has produced on the pitch merits the tributes and books already published and yet to come. He has proven himself a winner and the ultimate professional to maintain elite standards aged 32, and remains a pleasure to watch. It is testament to his extraordinary contribution that there is even a debate as to whether Liverpool should consider keeping him as their highest-paid player with a deal that would take him to his 34th birthday.

Most forwards at that age would be welcome to stay – as long as they were realistic and took a pay cut and recognised they might not play so much. Salah demonstrated to Brighton’s cost that his finishing is as good now as when he was 25.

But footballers always think they can go on forever, and their agents often encourage the idea that the team will disintegrate without them, as if failing to renew a club-record deal is a symptom of a lack of ambition.

Salary sticking point remains a mystery

In Salah’s case, the weight of evidence shows Liverpool would not have been as successful as they have been under Fenway Sports Group without him, and he is in such prime condition there is no reason to assume he will be an expensive passenger for the next two years. It could be argued that is even more the case for Van Dijk given defenders tend to have more longevity. If Liverpool lose their Dutch skipper at the end of this season, it will feel horribly premature and questions about how it ever reached that stage will be justified, even if the current football operators inherited a complicated situation.

But the biggest mistake any football club can make is to allow emotion to override logic when it comes to the allocation of their resources, or to engage in a tug of war for the hearts and minds of supporters who might say, “give him whatever he wants” in the immediate aftermath of a spectacular winner, or in the case of Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold a colossal defensive display or extraordinary assist.

Liverpool want all three to stay. All three keep indicating they want to stay. What neither side is prepared to reveal publicly or even privately at this stage is what the financial package has to be for the hopes of a deal to become a reality.

Salah’s current salary is upwards of £350,000 a week, possibly rising to £400,000 a week inclusive of bonuses. That amounts to £41.6 million over the next two years.

Van Dijk is thought to be in the same ballpark. Alexander-Arnold is entitled to believe he too should be one of the club’s top earners. If the highest-paid players think there should be an inflationary increase on these figures, there is a knock-on impact on the rest of the squad eyeing bigger wages, or the next signings whose agents will be well versed in what the going rate at Anfield is.

Do the maths, assess Liverpool’s club accounts, their wage structure and self-sustaining model, and it is not difficult to understand why the man ultimately responsible for signing off on an agreement, FSG chief executive Michael Edwards, has much to ponder. Edwards’s job is to consider this season, the next, the one beyond, and also where the club will be when starting the 2026-27 campaign, by which time Salah and Van Dijk will be edging ever closer to the legends tours, brilliant as they remain right now.

If the big three leave, Liverpool will rebuild

To date, it is to everyone’s credit that the manoeuvrings behind the scenes have not yet descended into a blame game.

But while everyone is walking on eggshells, there are growing signs of choreographed messaging, Salah’s social media’s post the most obvious example.

It should never have reached this stage for Liverpool. You can be sure Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes will be diligent about ensuring key players do not play amid such uncertainty again. Alexander-Arnold’s situation ought to have been sorted out two years ago and Van Dijk’s long before this season.

The sadness for Liverpool is the longer the impasse continues, the greater the danger that a brilliant start for Arne Slot and gathering title bid will be relegated to a subplot. This is especially likely if representatives see every win as a chance to strike a PR goal.

Hearty celebrations will follow if Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold pen new terms. They all deserve the right deal, even if it is proving problematic agreeing what “right” means.

If they do not and get their guard of honour in May, there will be sadness and perhaps some confusion, but also a sense of realism and excitement that Slot will be resourced to get to work on building another team of hungry players on lower salaries aiming for superstar status, just like the young Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool will move on without their modern day legends eventually, preferably later rather than sooner, just as they always have. No matter what happens.