Just as in 2022, Liverpool find themselves approaching a critical juncture regarding the future of Mo Salah.
July of that summer got off to a dream start for Reds fans when the club announced a two-year contract extension at Anfield which secured his services until 2025, with the Egyptian having been just about to enter year the final year of his previous deal (BBC Sport).
LFC haven’t been as efficient in sorting out his future this time around, with just over seven months remaining until the 32-year-old walks away as a free agent as things currently stand.
In an article for The Times discussing the probability of Liverpool handing Salah a new contract in the coming weeks or months, Paul Joyce pointed to how a renewal two-and-a-half years ago seemed unlikely at one point before the intervention of a key FSG figure.
The journalist wrote: “There were times during that previous round of negotiations with Salah and [his agent Ramy] Abbas two summers ago when a resolution also seemed unlikely.
“It is understood that it was Mike Gordon, Fenway Sports Group’s president and responsible for the day-to-day running of the club back then, who ultimately decided renewing was the sensible use of resources.”
Joyce then added that Liverpool’s then-manager Jurgen Klopp had a current Manchester United player in mind as a prospective replacement for Salah if the Egyptian had left at the end of his previous deal.
He wrote: “That has proved astute, especially as one of the options understood to have been discussed by Jürgen Klopp was to replace Salah was Antony.”
History is the wisest of judges, of course, but considering the respective fortunes of those two players since the summer of 2022, Liverpool fans might be feeling a chill down their spine at the thought of a parallel universe in which the Egyptian King was replaced at Anfield by the now-United winger.
A few weeks after Salah last extended his contract with the Reds, the Old Trafford outfit spent £82m to sign Antony from Ajax, with the Brazilian since delivering a paltry return of 17 goal contributions (12 goals, five assists) in 87 appearances (The Times).
Since the start of this season alone, our number 11 has racked up 10 goals and assists each in 17 games, with 62 goals and 38 assists (100 G/A) for LFC since the 24-year-old moved to Manchester (Transfermarkt).
We can only hope that FSG’s current CEO of Football Michael Edwards follows Gordon’s lead and decides that renewing the Egyptian’s contract at Anfield is the wisest course of action.
The time will inevitably come that Salah and Liverpool must part ways, but we don’t think that poignant moment should be on the horizon any time soon. When it does eventually arrive, let’s hope that the succession plan is better thought out than the one Klopp had apparently discussed in 2022.
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