Liverpool don’t yet know if Mohamed Salah will sign a new contract – and that will hit their transfer plans. It promises to be a big few weeks for the Reds.
The transfer window has only been open for a few days but we’ve already seen Liverpool linked with half of football. However, it’s unclear if any of the talk is correct.
At least, it doesn’t appear that any signings are imminent. That’s certainly what the Sunday World claims, while both the Athletic and Fabrizio Romano moved to deny claims that Luis Diaz was on his way.
The Sunday World and Romano both said the same thing in response to a lack of transfer activity, too. They believe that Liverpool have one priority right now and it’s a new contract for Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool deal with Mohamed Salah contract situation
Salah has been the best player in England this season and by some distance. There’s a very strong case he’s the best in the world, in fact, and Liverpool won’t want to lose him.
The question is whether they can afford him, though. The Independent has Salah’s wage demands at around £380k per week, which would smash the club record. Liverpool have some thinking to do, then.
But until they figure it out, signing anyone new is quite difficult. For one, there’s an argument that signing a player to play with Salah would be entirely different to signing one to replace him.
Should Liverpool really spend £67m on Diaz only for Salah to leave? Then they’d have two incredibly talented left-wingers but need to sign a star for their right-hand side. It’s far from ideal – and they almost certainly can’t afford to sign two superstars.
We think that’s the reason for hesitancy this month. Liverpool’s attack could change completely if Salah left, with a necessary style-shift following any exit. They can’t afford to spend a huge amount of money and then find out the new plans are completely different.
Of course, some will argue that Liverpool should be able to sign a star, sell Salah, and sign a second star. They’d be justified in thinking that, too – but it’s not how the club operates. That’s too high-risk and we can’t see it happening.
So as frustrating as it is, Liverpool will likely wait until Salah’s contract is sorted before making their big move. We’ll just hope this doesn’t drag on into the summer.
