Why Richard Hughes could agree an INSANE Mo Salah deal for Liverpool

The return of Michael Edwards in the summer saw Liverpool double down on their long-term recruitment model.

After his departure as Sporting Director, the Reds had veered away from their initial approach.

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With Jurgen Klopp heavily involved in transfers, Liverpool had wanted to involve themselves in some big money moves.

The 2019/20 Premier League champions had been in the conversation to sign Aurelien Tchouameni. He joined Real Madrid for a reported £85million.

The Reds pipped a host of clubs to the signature of Darwin Nunez having agreed to pay Benfica up to £84million for the striker. Jude Bellingham, another valued at around £100million, was a long-term target before the club pivoted and signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

A £111million bid was placed and accepted for Moises Caicedo before the player rejected the Reds in favour of Chelsea.

Whereas previously a club record offer was the exception rather than the norm, it started to become a regular occurrence in the final few summers of Klopp’s reign at Anfield.

Liverpool stopped looking for value for money opportunities. They weren’t looking to spend smartly. If we’re being honest, they weren’t even trying to complete clever business.

Edwards returned this summer and brought Richard Hughes with him. This coincided with Liverpool reverting to their old ways in the transfer market. They wanted to spend wisely.

Martin Zubimendi decided to remain in Spain but the Reds did manage to sign Giorgi Mamardashvili and Federico Chiesa for a combined £35million.

Now, Chiesa has struggled with fitness and Mamardashvili remained with Valencia on loan so it is almost impossible to judge these deals.

On paper though, they’re both clever pieces of business. Both were signed for below market value. Both have the potential to turn into real bargains for Arne Slot’s table-topping team.

Another piece of smart business for the new Liverpool bosses could be extending Mohamed Salah’s contract.

According to reports in The Athletic, Salah is now open to agreeing a 12 month extension with the club. The three-time Golden Boot winner is making things as easy as possible for Hughes to get this deal sorted. This should be a tap-in for the new Sporting Director.

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A new, one-year deal for Salah is risk free. Even if Salah was demanding a pay increase to £500,000-per-week, it would still be insane value for money for Liverpool. I doubt he is asking for that sort of money but the point is, even if he was, it should be a straightforward deal for the Reds.

FSG-owned Boston Red Sox are willing to give Juan Soto a 10-year deal worth $650million if reports are to believed. Liverpool should not be afraid to give Salah £26million over 12 months if that is what it takes to keep him at Anfield.

Ultimately, the Premier League leaders aren’t going to get anyone to replace Salah for that sort of money.

Brentford are believed to want £60million for Bryan Mbeumo and that is before you factor in his salary and any signing-on fees. Even if he’s signed on a five-year deal worth a basic £150,000-per-week, he’d be costing the Reds the best part of £100million and he’d be an unknown in this Liverpool team.

The same goes for Mohammed Kudus. He reportedly has an £85million release clause in his deal and you’d expect him to earn £40million over a five-year deal without factoring in bonuses. Again, it is a huge outlay when there are no guarantees.

Salah is as close to a guarantee as they come in football.

Across his seven seasons with the Reds, he’s averaged 22 Premier League goals and 10 assists. So far this term, he’s on 11 goals and seven assists. He leads the English top flight for goal involvements and Erling Haaland (12) is the only player to better his goals return after 13 matches.

The underlying numbers look solid too. He’s got an Expected Goals haul of 9.78 and an Expected Goals on Target total of 10.78. Everything looks sustainable. There are no indications that a drop-off is just around the corner but even if his output does take a hit, he’s always going to be good for at least 20 goal involvements across a Premier League campaign, isn’t he? You’d take that for £26million, wouldn’t you? I’d argue you’d be getting a good deal too. Mbeumo has never finished a season with 20 goal involvements in the league. Neither has Kudus. Both could scale up their output in this Liverpool team. Both could struggle. You just never know with transfers.

What you do know though is that Salah will score goals and create chances. If Liverpool are hoping to be the smartest team in the world again, signing the 32-year-old to a new one-year deal goes some way to backing up the argument that the smart guys are back in charge.

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