Should Liverpool extend Mohamed Salah's contract?

The Reds may be reluctant to hand out long deals to ageing stars, but their Egyptian superstar is bucking all the usual trends.

Photo: IMAGO | Anfield Index

With both Liverpool and Mohamed Salah having proven so adept at keeping their demands out of public view during their ongoing contract wrangle, it is difficult for those outside the loop to make a call on the best course of action.

But we can make an educated guess that, for their part, the Reds will be primarily driven by a desire to guard against giving out huge sums to a player who is on the brink of an unexpected decline.

There are plenty of cautionary tales out there to guide them, such as Mesut Ozil racking up 77 goal contributions across 136 appearances for Arsenal before signing a three-and-a-half-year, £350,000-per-week contract at the age of 29.

The German subsequently managed just six goals and five assists over 48 games before that deal was terminated six months early.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Kopites will recall the sudden and shocking physical downturn suffered by Fabinho, albeit 12 months on from his own contract extension. 

So the real question the team of Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes must answer is whether there are any signs that Salah might follow a similar trajectory in the years ahead.

At a surface level, the fact he has eight goals and six assists from just 11 Premier League appearances this term certainly suggests not.

And deeper than that, the Egyptian is managing 1.68 shots on target per 90 minutes this season versus an average of 1.6 across his eight years at Liverpool, while his shot-creating actions stand at 4.3 per 90 (only marginally down on his average of 4.39).

A side-by-side comparison of his attacking output versus his positional peers in the Premier League provides no evidence of a significant drop-off from the 2022-23 season, either.