Liverpool Transfer News: How FSG can strike mammoth Mo Salah contract renewal

Liverpool’s ongoing contract uncertainty is casting a shadow across their season, despite Arne Slot leading his team to the top of the Premier League and Champions League standings.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are all out of contract at the end of the season with no breakthrough yet forthcoming in negotiations for a new deal.

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January 1 marked the day when all three would be entitled to speak to potentially interested overseas clubs about a pre-contract agreement - effectively putting Liverpool in competition with other teams for their own players.

Sporting director Richard Hughes and club owners Fenway Sports Group - not to mention FSG’s CEO of Football Michael Edwards - have got a tricky scenario on their hands as they attempt to make renewals for the three stars work.

While it might well be the case that Trent appears more likely to leave than the other two, it is certain that facilitating new deals for all three is going to be very expensive.

Salah leads the way as Liverpool’s record earner - on a reported £350,000 per week. Next up is Virgil van Dijk - banking £220,000 per week. Trent is on £180,000 or thereabouts but a renewal with the 26-year-old would likely cost much more given his profile and projected years left at the top.

How can Liverpool keep Salah, Van Dijk and Trent?

Those three - plus Alisson - are taking up a sizeable chunk of the wage bill and FSG have also got to consider the fallout of missing Champions League qualification in 2022/23.

It means there is less headroom in the budget than some fans might think, leading to speculation that one or more of the top earners could well be allowed to leave. Also, with improved deals not far away for Ibrahima Konate, Conor Bradley and more, Liverpool can ill-afford to get themselves into a position where players are demanding wallet-busting renewals.

There is a way however of making the figures work, at least when it comes to Salah, according to the Sunday Times’ Chief Football Correspondent Jonathan Northcroft. Speaking to The Transfers Podcast, Northcroft acknowledged that losing Trent might be inevitable at this stage but keeping Salah should be FSG’s utmost priority.

Salah, who will be 33 in summer, is coming to a stage of his career where performances might not be guaranteed in the long term. And that issue might well be leading to FSG considering whether or not a multi-year deal is the best option for them.

To get around this, Northcroft suggests a bonus-laden deal, meaning Liverpool can keep their wage structure intact. That means other players won’t be coming to Hughes demanding excessive renewals as Salah’s base wage wouldn’t be too outlandish.

'Salah is the exception'

“They couldn't keep Alexander-Arnold on the enhanced wages that he wants, plus keep Mo Salah on - at the very least - the same wages and possibly enhanced wages that he wants, while doing the same with Van Dijk," he says.

"What Edwards and Hughes have got to think about is Liverpool's position over the years of a sensible wage structure and not being pushed by players into paying what they want, but finding solutions that suit the club as well. Because once you're pushed around by one player, you're in the territory of the next one is going to try and do the same to you.

"Salah holds a lot of aces here because he's so brilliant. He just keeps scoring goals and giving us cheeky, smiling interviews and he's so good.

“Take away Mo Salah from that team and it's not at the top of the league. If I was Edwards, I think Mo Salah is the exception. I think you have to do it. You just need to try and do it in some way that's on your terms, and whether that means some formula where he gets a loyalty bonus rather than the bigger wages that enables him to be paid without you breaking your wage structure."