He stood out amid Liverpool’s struggles last season, but his impact has really come to the fore again as the team around him has improved. The presence of Jürgen Klopp’s side in the Europa League might hinder Salah’s Ballon d’Or chances, but that is the kind of form in which he has started the season.
Of course, that’s not the only talking point around Salah at the minute. The other relates to his Liverpool future — yes, again. It goes without saying that FSG could not have foreseen the rise of the Saudi Pro League as a major transfer market player. But the upshot is that Salah is now a man firmly in demand, as his contract once again ticks towards its final year.
If it feels like that has come around quickly, that’s because it has. Liverpool rather generously declared last summer that Salah had signed a new ‘long-term’ contract, but ultimately it was only a two-year extension, leaving a total of three years before the scheduled end of his Anfield stay.
The logic of that length of deal is only known to the negotiating parties. It may have been that Salah wanted to leave his options open. But it’s also very plausible that FSG did not want to go for a longer deal, having already compromised by shelling out so much to a player entering his 30s. It’s interesting to note that Virgil van Dijk’s latest deal runs to the same point. He signed a year before Salah, so technically penned a longer extension, but he too is set to be out of contract in 2025 as things stand.
Like Salah, the new Liverpool captain has seen his reputation further improve this season. Van Dijk was among those hit hardest by the team’s woes last time out, with many even pinning much of the blame on him — but as the collective fortunes have trended upwards, the Dutchman has looked much more like his old self.
There was plenty of celebration when FSG finally reached an agreement to extend Mohamed Salah’s contract at Liverpool, and rightly so. The impasse was broken last summer, and the Egyptian has since repaid the faith of the owners and then some.
