Striker Mohamed Salah, whose current contract expires in June, has set himself the goal of winning the Premier League during what will be ” last year » in Liverpool, he said on Friday January 3. What future for the Pharaoh?
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Will leave, will not leave? Between Egyptians, followers of African football, fans of European football and Liverpool supporters, the question regarding the departure or not of Mohamed Salah from the Reds weighs on many heads. The media drama surrounding the striker continued with this interview given to Sky Sports, the main broadcaster of the Premier League.
The 32-year-old Egyptian claims to have, since last summer, made the English championship the number one objective of his season, and no longer the Champions League, unlike in previous years. For what ? “ I don’t know anything about it. It’s probably because we didn’t celebrate the one we won as we wanted. “, in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, he explained. But also ” because it’s my last year at the club and I want to do something special for the city “.
Real departure or pressure?
Does he really believe the end is coming for Liverpool? “ So far, yes. These are the last six months [du contrat, NDLR]. We are far from any progress. So we have to wait and see », declared the person concerned, current top scorer (17) and passer (13) in the championship. At regular intervals, the Pharaoh, who arrived on the banks of the Mersey in 2017, said he was disappointed with the club’s lack of eagerness to extend it.
A way to put pressure on management to win their case in negotiations? In an interview given to the magazine GQ in January 2022, Mohamed Salah was already positioning himself in a small standoff with his leaders: “ I want to stay, but it’s up to them. They know what I’m asking for and it’s not a crazy amount. » Subsequently, he signed a new contract six months later, the one which currently runs until the summer of 2025. And since there are less than six months remaining on the current lease, the player can, since the 1st January, legally discuss freely with other clubs wishing to enlist him during the next offseason.
Saudi Arabia and PSG should be in the race
Liverpool, for their part, has never officially commented on their situation, nor on those of Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, two other squad executives at the end of their contract. With Salah, the Reds have notably won the Champions League (2019), the FA Cup (2022) and the League Cup (2022, 2024), in addition to the European Super Cup (2019), the Cup of the club world (2019) and the Premier League (2020).
The fact remains that his firm and public position for a departure from Liverpool at the end of the season will make his case an extremely hot issue in the summer transfer window. At 32 years old and in one of the forms of his life, the man still has a few years of very high level in Europe under his belt. Even if the clubs of the Saudi Championship, who have been eyeing him for several years, should offer him a solid gold contract, it is more likely that his story will still be written a little in Europe before he is exported. At the beginning of December, The Team also revealed that PSG had already attempted a first approach, as the capital club had already done before.