Mo Salah one step closer to extraordinary deal

Over the last few years, Liverpool have been fighting an uphill battle to extend Mohamed Salah's contract.

The winger is devoted to the club, but as a result of his relentless consistency, the price of keeping him on Merseyside has skyrocketed, adding a layer of difficulty to negotiations.

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This season in particular, it seems as though the Egyptian's level has been turned up a notch, as he sits on 21 goals and 17 assists across all competitions - an extremely high return with four months left of the season to go.

Interest from Saudi Arabia has been apparent from the start and Al Hilal are rumoured to be his likely destination if Liverpool are unsuccessful in extending his stay on Merseyside, however, an important development has just been reported.

Reports claim Salah wants the move

Throughout the campaign, Salah has been in direct communication with the media on a regular basis, giving updates on his situation as fans wrestle with the idea that one of the club's greatest players of all time might be forced to move on.

In doing so, it has become apparent that he is doing so as a potential strategy to put pressure on the club so the negotiations can begin to progress in a positive way.

Mo's latest stance was that the club are far away from where he is looking to be, in terms of an agreement with regard to the length of the contract and his wages. After all, it seems fair that a consistently high performer deserves to be paid the top rate.

At Al Hilal, the club has the backing of the Saudi Public Investment Fund which could seemingly agree to any financial demand that Salah had, making it an extremely attractive proposition as the Egyptian enters the final years of his career.

However, according to Journalist Hamad Al-Swilhy on Saudia TV, there is more to the rumours surrounding Salah than we might initially think.

Their latest report claims: "There are negotiations between him and Al Hilal, and the player wants the move to the Saudi League, but the financial details have yet to be agreed upon and the deal may not go through if a final agreement is not reached.

"But we are talking about something that will happen next summer. Of course, one of the key names that Al Hilal are targeting ahead of the Club World Cup is Mohamed Salah."

As such, it seems as though the difficult part - agreeing personal terms with the player - is already signed off, and the remaining details are about the finances - which should be straightforward to agree.

In the past, transfer fees of over £100m have been reported as bids for Salah, so the interest in the player is significant and so in securing his services for free upon the expiration of his contract in the summer, and money set aside for him can go straight on his contract.

Until anything is confirmed, these Saudi reports appear to be conjecture and the notion that Salah is seeking a move away from Liverpool seems to be in contradiction to what we already know. But if this latest development is to be believed, then Liverpool are firmly on the back foot in their ongoing negotiations.

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