Mohamed Salah underscored his influence to Liverpool at Old Trafford and then intensified the pressure on the club to offer him a new contract after admitting no talks have yet been held.
The 32-year-old is in the final year of his deal and has maintained he is not wasting mental energy focusing on the situation. However, Sky Sports News understands his preference would be to remain with the Anfield side.
Salah has not considered any other club yet but feels he still has years left at the highest level. He wants to be competing for the biggest prizes and so interest from Saudi Arabia would not be enticing at present.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Liverpool’s 3-0 win away to Manchester United in the Premier League
Salah’s position has been that Liverpool need to start a dialogue over fresh terms as it is not his job to push for it.
The fact that there has not even been a discussion yet, with no proposal drafted for him to consider, is a significant detail.
Why would Liverpool wait so long to address the topic if they actually wanted to keep Salah, who would be free to engage with other clubs in four months?
If there was an issue over contract length or wages, that could be worked through – but there has been nothing to negotiate over yet!
Liverpool have been reluctant to tie down players on the other side of 30 to big contracts, but the Egypt international is still proving to be pivotal for them.
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Jamie Carragher believes Mohamed Salah is too good to leave Liverpool for Saudi Arabia
Salah was excellent in the 3-0 victory away to Manchester United, which continues the theme of the season and his career at the club in general.
Of the seven goals the team has scored in the campaign, three have come from his boot, he has assisted a further treble and got the pre-assist against Brentford.
As Andy Robertson said: “You can see the shape he’s in. He is getting better with age in terms of his physical output and attributes. He is a big-game player.”
After bagging his 15th goal against United in 16 appearances, Salah told Sky Sports: “I had a good summer and had a long time to myself to try to stay positive because as you know, it’s my last year at the club.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring their third goal against Man Utd
“I just want to enjoy it and I don’t want to think about it. I feel like I’m free to play football and then we’ll see what happens next year.
“I was coming to the game today thinking it could be the last time. Nobody at the club has spoken to me yet about a new contract so I just play this last season and then see at the end of the season.
“It’s not up to me but nobody talk to me about a contract with the club. We’ll see.”
Salah, who has over 300 combined goals and assists for Liverpool, believes his performances have spoken loud enough.
The club’s silence thus far seems to suggest they are comfortable letting him leave on a free after seven seasons of him making extraordinary the norm.
Replacing Salah, especially in today’s market, would be incredibly difficult.
That is without adding the complication that Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also in the final year of their deals.
Liverpool have enormous work to do.