Jamie Carragher has his say on Liverpool-Salah contract stand-off

As the weeks go by, frustration only grows around Mohamed Salah and his contract that is still in its last year as January comes around.

One Liverpool legend has come out and expressed his desire for more clarity.

Jamie Carragher has his say on Liverpool-Salah stand-off

In a recent appearance on the Stick to Football podcast, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher had his say on the ongoing protracted contract talks between the Reds and Mohamed Salah.

“I love Mo Salah, he’s one of the best players in the world, but the reason I say this is because of his age. When you’re on that type of money and you’re talking about getting a raise – a raise isn’t 10 or 20 grand a week.

“How many attackers do Real Madrid have, Barcelona are in dire straits financially, PSG are nowhere near the team Liverpool are – there are only four or five teams that can realistically win the Champions League and Liverpool are one of them.

“He will stay as I’m not sure there are too many options. He’s not ready to go to Saudi (Arabia) – he can do that in three years’ time. Salah is that driven as a footballer to win the record of most goals – or whatever that may be for Liverpool.

“Good luck to him, he deserves it [a new deal with a raise], he’s one of the best players in the world and should be paid that.

“But if you come out and say that the club haven’t done this and the club haven’t done that, then give us all (the story) and we can then we can decide (what side we’re on).

“When you talk about letting a player get to this stage of their career, we all get to that stage when you’re 32 or 33, and no one comes to you with 18 months to go talking about a new deal.

“My point is that we know they’re in discussions, he did this two years ago where he tried to put pressure on the club.

“He’s a world-renowned superstar and I’m desperate for him to stay, but I’m looking at it from the club’s point of view where we don’t know who’s in the right or wrong.

“If you want to put something out there that the club haven’t offered you a contract, then tell us what you want, be transparent and we can then all pick sides.

“Me personally, I think he should stay on the same amount of money and give him a two-year deal. Now, the club might be offering him one year and he might want three – we don’t know what it is. I’ve tried to get information from the club because I knew I’d be asked about it, but they’re not giving anything away.”

Carragher on Salah, as quoted by Football365.

The 32-year-old is averaging well over a goal/assist per game in the 22 appearances he has made thus far this season.

Eligible to talk to new clubs in January, Salah has also been getting traction from Barcelona, with an offer from Saudi continuing to linger in the background.

TKT Opinion

Carragher is quite right in his assessment. Not many clubs can afford to offer Salah a raise on his current deal, and even if they did, said raise won’t increase the weekly number by much, and any number any European side could put on the table would be dwarfed by the inevitable offer clubs in Saudi Arabia will send the Egyptian’s way whenever he’s ready.

Salah is an elite athlete at the very top level. It’s understandable that he wants to stay there as long as he can. But he also needs to understand that clubs that tend to run prudently will not offer him a blank cheque with as many years on the deal as he wants.

If Salah is keen on giving public interviews but not reveal his demands, as Carragher has addressed, then Liverpool ought to get ahead while they have the chance and take a public offensive of their own—diplomatically, of course.