Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted that Mohamed Salah’s blistering form is making him even more expensive for the club to tie to a new contract this summer.
Salah will be a free agent in June, when he will be 33, and Liverpool’s reluctance to give big deals to over-30s could play into the hands of his big-spending suitors in the Saudi Pro League.
The Egypt forward is already free to negotiate with other clubs and his prolific form – he has 30 goals and 50 goal involvements this term – has only strengthened his bargaining power.
“You can look at it in both ways. The better he does the more expensive he might become, and if he did really worse we would have second thoughts to extend his contract,” said Slot.
“For everyone it is the best that he brings in the performances he does now. Maybe only for the one who has to pay him it is not the best. For everyone else it is the best because if you want to play at this club you need to be at his level.
“Otherwise you are almost useless because we only need players that are at the top of their game. He needs to have these performances for him to play here and hopefully to extend here.”
Salah is one of three key Liverpool players who could leave this summer, with captain Virgil van Dijk and full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold also out of contract, although the uncertainty has not prevented them from going 11 points clear in the Premier League.
He could expect to earn more than £50m a year in Saudi Arabia – more than doubling his current pay at Anfield – and was the subject of a £150m transfer offer from Al Hilal in 2023.
Last month Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal continued the charm offensive by admitting that the country’s top division would “love to have him”.
Salah reached the 30-goal mark in Sunday’s win over Manchester City, taking his tally to 25 in the Premier League alone and earning comparisons with the record-breaking numbers put up by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their peak.