Gary Neville has appeared to let the cat out of the bag regarding what Mo Salah is demanding in order to renew his contract at Liverpool.
The Egyptian is into the final six months of his current £350,000-per-week deal at Anfield and is free to speak with non-English clubs regarding a potential pre-contract agreement to take effect in the summer, although public utterances from the 32-year-old hint that his wish is to stay put.
He revealed to Sky Sports in recent days that there’s been ‘no progress’ on a prospective renewal, with his words appearing to be laced with a frustration over the length of time it’s taking for his future to be resolved.
Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast for Sky Sports on Sunday evening after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Manchester United, the pundit appeared to leak what Salah is demanding in order to sign a new deal.
The 49-year-old said: “We were talking before the game about the actual economics of Salah. He’s down to a three-year contract and obviously he’s getting on in years so why would they give him that?
“It’s £400,000 per week which is obviously mind-boggling. That’s £20m a year, times that by three years is £60m. That’s what Mo Salah is asking for.”
Neville added that, all things considered, it’d be no more expensive for Liverpool to renew Salah’s contract than to let him leave and sign a replacement winger.
He outlined: “It’s a lot of money, but if Mo Salah leaves, you’re probably going to spend £60m on a fee, and then you’re probably going to spend another £10m-£15m on wages, so you’re probably going to spend £100m-£120m over the next three years to replace Mo Salah with a player who more than likely may not do what Mo Salah’s gonna do.”
An extra £50,000 weekly for Salah should be well within Liverpool’s budget, particularly when they trimmed £300,000 per week off the wage bill with the exits of Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara last summer.
Yes, there are two other contract situations to try and resolve with Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but there seems no reason why FSG can’t commit to what the Egyptian is apparently seeking, if Neville’s information is correct.
Also, as the Sky Sports pundit pointed out, the Reds are at risk of losing one of their greatest-ever goalscorers – and one who’s already netted 21 times this season – on a free transfer and needing to spend big to replace him with someone who’d have to be incredibly special to replicate the 32-year-old’s impact at Anfield.
When you crunch the finances which’d be involved and the extraordinary output of Salah (which shows no sign of slowing down), it’d seem less of a gamble for Liverpool to give him a three-year, £400k-per-week contract than it would to let him leave and then sign a replacement.
If those are indeed the Egyptian’s demands, FSG should surely play the percentages and ensure that the man in the number 11 shirt doesn’t up sticks from Merseyside this year.
The post Gary Neville may just have leaked ‘what Mo Salah is asking for’ to renew his Liverpool contract appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
