Mohamed Salah certainly knows how to get people talking – whether it’s on the pitch or off it.
After his heroics at Southampton sent Liverpool eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, the 32-year-old put the pressure on the club as he revealed to reporters that he is yet to receive an offer for a new contract.
The news has not gone down well with supporters, who have directed their ire at FSG, although Jamie Carragher isn’t too happy with Salah himself. Regardless, Liverpool’s owners find themselves under pressure, with just over a month to go before the Egyptian can negotiate a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club.
It’s a delicate situation for Liverpool and FSG, with Salah still the Reds’ best attacking player despite being one of the oldest members of the squad. His teammates though are in no doubt about his status at the club, and what they want him to do next…
Virgil van Dijk
“Special player,” Van Dijk said earlier this month. “Not only this year, but so many years now. You see the hard work that he puts in and how consistent he is, especially with his numbers but also with his performances.
“He is a special player and a pleasure to play with. Physically, definitely [he can stay at this level for longer]. Mentally, that’s in his hands. With certain players, you can see how they play on the highest level.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold
“Mo Salah’s consistency – from the moment he came into the team to the moment of today, the most consistent player I have ever, ever, ever seen, if am honest, and to witness it on a daily basis is a privilege to say the least,” Alexander-Arnold said in October.
“For everyone in the team, whether you are older than him, younger than him, he’s the person you look at for consistency, the way he looks after his body, the way he looks after himself, the way he game after game will get goals and assists and win those games and do special things, and he is incredible.”
Dominik Szoboszlai
Szoboszlai is the most recent player to comment on Salah’s future – apart from the man himself, of course – having sent a plea for the Egyptian to stay following Sunday’s win over Southampton.
“Everyone knows Mo,” Szoboszlai told Sky Sports after the game. “He just has to keep going and I hope I play with him for as long as I can.”
Alexis Mac Allister
“He’s so good and so important for this team,” Mac Allister said last month. “I think we all know – not just for the team, for the club as well. He’s a legend here. So, happy for him.
“When you have him, you know that he’s going to deliver, he’s going to get the numbers. We’re happy that he’s playing for us.”
Luis Diaz
“It would be hard for us; it would be hard for Liverpool,” Diaz told Telemundo in September. “It’s going to hurt us a lot. He still has a year to think about it, it’s not easy. He always gives his very best.
“He has done it from the start. It would be very hard to lose a key player like him. It’s his decision and we respect that, but I hope he doesn’t leave.”
Andy Robertson
“You can see the shape he’s in,” Robertson told the Daily Mail back in September. “He is getting better with age in terms of his physical output and attributes. He is a big-game player. His goals and assists speak for themselves and he always shows up against our rivals.
“The minute he walked through this door he’s set Anfield and other stadiums alight. He is a Premier League legend, of course, he is, but still wants to write a few more stories and hopefully, that is him showing up in other big games this season.
“Obviously he is our main man and teams try to stop him. Mo knows when a big game is on the horizon but he also sets standards every single day. He’s a model professional and if any kids or anyone are looking at professionals to base themselves on, then Mohamed Salah is not a bad person to do it to. He dedicates his life to football.”
