Gary Neville has weighed in on the ongoing drama surrounding Mohamed Salah’s contract situation at Liverpool, expressing his surprise at how the club has been handling the negotiations.
The Egyptian forward recently stirred up controversy by voicing his “disappointment” with Liverpool’s hesitance to offer him a new deal. With his current contract drawing to a close at the end of the season, there’s a real risk that Liverpool could lose the 32-year-old for nothing if they don’t secure him on fresh terms.After netting twice in Liverpool’s triumph over Southampton, Salah made headlines by suggesting to journalists that he felt “more out than in”, which appeared to be a calculated move to accelerate or kick-start discussions about his contract.Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher wasn’t pleased with the timing of these remarks, given the looming pivotal clashes with Real Madrid and Manchester City, and went as far as to call the striker “selfish”.
Yet, the Anfield supporters didn’t share Carragher’s view and instead showed Salah nothing but support when he stepped onto the pitch against Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Neville, speaking on the It’s Called Soccer podcast, commended Salah for handling the situation “brilliantly”, despite the evident strain.”Mo Salah at this moment in time is doing a brilliant job on the pitch, but he’s also doing a very good job off the pitch,” the Manchester United legend said. “He’s balancing. He isn’t stupid enough to alienate himself from the fans because he recognizes that would be very short-lived in Liverpool. So he’s basically talking very fondly about the fans and how he loves the club and he’s very passionate.
“But he’s also, on the other side of it, sending a message to the hierarchy. He’s even [avoided] alienating the manager, so [he loves] the manager, the fans and the club, but he’s saying to the sort of sporting director or owners, he’s applying a bit of pressure to them, which means the fans might [do the same].”
Neville said he couldn’t understand the reason behind Salah’s lack of clarity, but suggested that Liverpool’s plan may have always been to sit down with the ex-Chelsea star after Christmas and hammer out a deal. “I think Liverpool will go to Mo Salah at some point. I don’t know why they aren’t communicating with him,” he said. “I can’t believe Liverpool wouldn’t have done that.”
“It would surprise me if Liverpool as a football club – with their experience of handling transfers and recruitment brilliantly for many, many years – haven’t said to Salah’s agent a few months ago or at the start of the season, ‘shall we sit down after Christmas and look at this in January?”We’re both mature, we know you’ve got six months left, let’s see how the season goes, see whether you’re enjoying it, see whether we’re enjoying it’. That would have been the smartest thing to have done.”
