By BBC (Sports) | Created at 2024-11-24 19:03:00 | Updated at 2024-11-25 02:38:56
8 hours ago
Liverpool’s fans are using Mohamed Salah’s trademark goal celebration to make public their demands that “The Egyptian King” must not be allowed to leave Anfield.
“He Fires A Bow. Now Give Mo His Dough” reads the banner that is being brandished these days - and more could be on the way after the 32-year-old delivered another match-winning display in the 3-2 win at Southampton.
Liverpool, struggling against determined opponents and a horrendous south-coast storm, were struggling at 2-1 down until Salah struck twice to give them the victory that puts them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The first was classic Salah, his mere presence seemingly scrambling the mind of Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, whose injudicious dash from goal was enough for Liverpool’s marksman to swoop.
Salah’s winner was a penalty. No firing a bow this time, instead showing remarkable courage to rip off his shirt in such atrocious weather.
The contracts of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have provided a permanent sub-plot to head coach Arne Slot’s first season, the forward adding his own intrigue with an unprompted announcement that it may be his last season at Liverpool following the win at Manchester United.
After his latest exploits, there is now a simple question for Liverpool’s owners, the Fenway Sports Group.
How can they possibly allow a situation where a world-class, game-changing, enduringly brilliant player can walk away for nothing at the of the season?
Of course, the unknown – at least publicly – is what Salah will demand to stay, especially as he can command a huge signing on fee if he moved on a free transfer, and whether this all fits in with FSG’s much-touted “Moneyball” strategy, which does not encourage long, expensive contracts for players in their 30s.
The negotiations will be delicate but one major factor is that even at 32, Salah is as good as ever and in astonishing physical condition, as he proved when he whipped off his black Liverpool shirt after scoring the winner.
This is not an ageing superstar in decline. This is a player maintaining remarkable fitness levels, fiercely driven and ambitious, who is playing like someone in their peak years.
Salah’s future has to be top of the owners’ agenda. The manner in which he ensured Liverpool did not slip up in such in such hazardous surroundings simply emphasised his worth.
The noise is now growing among Liverpool’s fanbase to see this piece of business successfully concluded, especially as they Salah on a weekly basis, conducting what resembles a personal mission to inspire his second Premier League triumph at the club.
Salah says little in public but this stunning series of performances, the sheer elite level consistency as he leads Liverpool to a strong position to win the title in Slot’s opening campaign – which seemed far distant at the start of the season – make the most eloquent of cases.
And FSG will know only too well that the longer there is no resolution, the louder the noise off stage will grow.
Every game and every statistic merely acts as a growing body of evidence that Liverpool simply have to come to an accord with Salah.
Salah is fifth on Liverpool’s all-time record scoring list in all competitions with 223 goals from 367 games behind Ian Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285), Gordon Hodgson (241) and Billy Liddell (228).
Few would back against Salah being third on that list by the end of the season.
He is also fifth on the league list with 165 goals from 262 games. Hunt leads that list (244), then Hodgson (233), Rush (229) then Liddell (215).
This season alone, Salah has been involved in 16 of Liverpool’s 24 Premier League goals, a total of 67%. He has 12 goals and 10 assists in 18 games in all competitions this season. It works out at a goal involvement every 65 minutes this season, his best for Liverpool.
Salah’s penalty which won the game was his 100th goal away from home for Liverpool.
He is, quite simply, irreplaceable. Where would Liverpool be without him? How much would it cost bring in someone anywhere near his calibre should he leave?
What Salah currently gives Liverpool is almost beyond financial considerations. They have other high-class, even world-class, operators but Salah is the player making the difference.
He rescued an average Liverpool display in horrendous conditions, first as predator then as penalty expert.
Liverpool's owners will surely be as keen to keep Salah as those on The Kop with banners.
They must somehow find an agreeable price for an asset delivering priceless performances as Liverpool increasingly scent a title challenge that was regarded as an outside bet when Slot first arrived.
