25 Nov 2024 10:18:24
I'm reading reports this morning that Virg is close to signing a new contract - a 1 year extension with an option of a second year.

Salah has also apparently told multiple reporters after the Southampton game that he has not even been offered a new contract yet so he is (in his own words) 'more out than in' at the moment. I find it baffling.

1.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 10:59:12
Just seen a video of his comments, it is a come get me please imo.

Hopefully there is a bit of semantics at play here and whilst a contract has been offered for signing, talks are ongoing.

The club need to be as quick as possible as the noise from the media etc will be massive. We can't let it start impacting the group when such a good opportunity has presented itself to win the title.

2.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 11:03:15
Apparently Liverpool "are" in discussions with Salah's agent regarding a contract extension.

3.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 11:16:50
Salah is unreal but this is a really difficult situation. If Salah wants 3 years at say 400,000 per week that is over 20 million per year

If they were to buy somebody like kubo for 40 million and pay him 90000 per week and amortise over 5 years that would work out at about 12.5 million per year. Kubo would also only be 28 years old at the end of that contract and have a sell on value.

I want Salah to stay but three years is a massive investment. Glad it’s not my decision ?.

4.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 11:28:57
Virg and Salah have to be extended for at least 2 years for this team to keep fighting at the top IMO. Both exceptional, rarely injured, I’ve seen worse players play later than 34years old in both positions. The fitness, professionalism and ridiculous talent of both of these players is apparent. Van dijk is 33 and Salah is 32. Notable mentions in their positions in the prem: at centre back Branislav Ivanović, John Terry, Jagielka, Toby Alderweireld, Tiago Silva all played until 34 or older. Forwards : Ronaldo, vardy, giggs, drogba, zlatan. I’d argue both Virg and Salah are better than all if not most of these. Point is this, you don’t get rid of players of this stature from a business point of view, you keep them amongst the squad and offer them new terms on shorter contracts.

5.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 11:40:42
I agree that we can't just give him whatever he (or his agent) wants but I can't believe we haven't offered him something yet.

6.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 12:23:25
Salah to Kubo would be like Suarez to Lambert again.

7.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:10:49
Watched kubo and zubimendi a couple of times this season and far from impressed.

8.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:15:08
Devil in the detail. Is Salah worth 20m a year if you want to win the game?

9.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:16:13
Kubo is nowhere near good enough to replace Salah, maybe good enough to replace elliot.

10.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:23:01
champs20, like the way you think, but the number, less so.
kubo at 40million? I find that cheap in today's market, so let's for argument sake put them up to 100million. Any Salah replacement is going to exceed that. (Saka is closer in level with Salah, and he is probably going to exceed 100m) .

90k a week, who is on that level in the squad? Even if this is the case that we can start with 90k, and assume that the performance level does hit a high level, you can assume this to come up. So for argument sake, 90k/ wk, then 120k/ wk, 150k/ wk and 180k/ wk and 210k/ wk for the 5 years.

That is a 27.8million a year.
Of course, this chap is still has re-sales value.
And assume we didn't sell him, like we didn't sell Salah, this re-sales value is irrelevant.
And then with his salary say on the 6th year onwards appraoching 250k, he is also going to cost around 13million a year, and more as the year passes.

And that is if we did indeed find a bargain as such and and a BIG if that the can come anywhere close to what Salah can do at 32

If Salah can get 400k or more somewhere else, that is probably his market value.
If we want Salah, we need to pay the market.
Beside, being the current "owner", we should be able to negotiate better since after all, any move is a risk, and any higher amount of pay is a risk premium. Ask Mane, ask Firminio, ask Henderson, and even Coutinho.

11.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:34:00
Replace a Lamborghini with a VW golf and you’ll get what you pay for.

Salah is a top asset and therefore commands a salary befitting of that status.

If we don’t pay it him, others will (PSG, Barca) .

12.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 13:28:58
Anyone who thinks Salah isn't worth his weight in gold is absolute bonkers. The guy is a machine. Doesn't drink, doesn't party. Has the body of an Olympic sprinter, never gets Injured and could go on another 4 years at this level. What the f*** are we waiting for.

13.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 14:03:57
Well, Champs2020, let me spell it out for you: Kubo isn’t - and never will be - good enough to replace Mo Salah. If we were serious about replacing Salah, the work should have started 3 seasons ago and his replacement already be at the club. If Salah wants 400k a week, you damn well pay it and accept any risk as a lesson for willing the decline of a pantheon-LFC player. To me, it is clear that LFC expected Salah’s performances to decline and that they could get away with letting him leave and replacing him on the cheap with Chiesa. I’m absolutely sick of the powers in charge of our club - tight-fisted, lying cheapskates until the end.
Some of our fans will accept anything if it means holding some moral virtue as perennial underdogs.

14.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 14:12:06
I said kubo as an example and the kind of money we tend to spend. I wasn’t suggesting we buy kubo I know little about him. All I was trying to point out (badly?) was that in this example it would cost the club an extra 8 million per year to keep Salah.

As a club we tend to be quite close to our spending limits without seemingly splashing huge amounts of cash which suggests that the contracts our top players are on reduces our capability of spending huge amounts on transfers.

I guess my point is that’s it’s a fine line financially to keeping our best players whilst simultaneously being able to spend big in other areas of the squad.

Exactly why I wouldn’t want to be the person making the decisions.

15.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 14:14:32
I actually agree with you on that ond Lowe1FC, plus Salah can probably get paid a lot better elsewhere but wants to stay here and break more records!

16.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 14:23:30
@lowe1FC thanks for spelling it out for me?. But this isn’t championship mgr. Giving a 32 year old a 400,000 a week contract is a huge outlay. I’d love him to stay as he’s by far our best player but the figures don’t lie. What if he falls off a cliff and we are married to him for another 3 years and therefore can’t financially replace him.
If it were my decision which luckily it isn’t I’d do everything financially viable to keep him but that may not be enough.
Replacements will be almost impossible to purchase at his current level so sometimes as was seen with the sale of coutinho more money could be invested elsewhere to replace his impact on the team.

17.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 14:34:21
It's pretty clear they didn't think they'd be seeing a PFA player of the year performance from Salah but that's exactly what we're getting from him 22 g/ a in all comps already and we're not even in December.

18.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 15:21:16
And what do you think the chances are that salah’s form will fall off a cliff? He is an epochal player, the interviews I’ve see with him lately only consolidate how elite he is mentally, he’s never been complacent and looks just as hungry going for goal now as he did the first day he arrived. We all thought he had lost a step and couldn’t put on the afterburners anymore, but this year he proved that he can still leave defenders in the wake on the sprint as well as all the other creative abilities he’s developed. I too started to think he was on the wane but all evidence suggests that we were all wrong, he’s just one of the very best players of the last two decades.

19.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 16:10:33
There are exceptions to any rules, and frankly, both Virgil and Mo are those exceptions.
It also tells prospective players that you can have a successful, well paid career, in its entirety with LFC.

20.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 16:17:02
I also don’t think his form falls off a cliff, his professionalism is unbelievable.
Having 3 key players contracts running out at the same time is simply scandalous. But for the guys coming in to negotiate but also looking at future squad investment that’s where we are!
I hope all three get extensions and we heavily invest in the squad, my gut feel is that we do one or the other not both.

21.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 16:42:52
Can it not be as simple as putting bigger goal bonuses and lowering salary slightly. Then if he continues to score goals for the next 3 years then great it's a win win. But if the goals dry up he gets less in bonuses.

22.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 17:44:30
People want security, especially as it is the last/ second to last contract he'll receive as a player. Apparently the delays are all around length and nothing else.

23.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 17:54:39
Of course offers will have been made, but not one acceptable to Mo. The club can’t afford to offer him a 2 year extension on the same terms, and risk finding themselves in a C Ronaldo situation - with a player capable of great moments, but whose decreasing pace and ability to press will accelerate over the next year or so, which could have a negative impact on overall team performance.

Mo has been and still is a giant, but it’s worth factoring in that his levels have significantly dropped off in the 2nd half of recent seasons.
Virgil, for me, is the one who can play for us until his late 30s, as his reading of the game means that he has less need to rely upon pace.
Trent will surely go. A great shame, but if he wants a new challenge then good luck to him.

24.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 19:24:20
One contract affects the other two, so in a way it’s good that the club are working things through and it has to work both ways. They can’t just give players a hat they want as much as we all want the deals done. I think it’s about length of contract but what do I know… The club can’t be held to ransom at the end of the day.

25.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 19:48:41
I had a couple of thoughts when I saw the stuff - the first one was a great big “it’s not my fault” by Mo and the second one was “Is there anybody interested in offering me a contract out there”.

Kevin Keegan was a great player but when he left we were never going to be able to replace him.
Ian Rush was a great player but we never going to be able to replace him .
Luis Suarez was a great player but we were never going to be a Le to replace him.
Sadio Mane, Fernando Torres etc, etc….

Life goes on. There is no guarantee that we will look to find a direct replacement for Mo - perhaps we will tweak the way we play. If we do try and replace like for like then the common opinion is that we will not succeed but that’s not necessarily true. it’d a funny game and we can all be surprised - take this season for example. Hands up everybody who thought Slot would have a better start to a season than any manager at the club ever has - let alone Klopp?

Mo’s very effective and it would be great if he stayed but if he doesn’t then good luck to the lad and let’s move on and work with what we have. As I say though, I wasn’t impressed with the possible underlying inference of his comments yesterday.

26.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 21:37:40
These contract renewals will be the rise or fall for hughes and Edward’s and it’s a scary prospect. I’m all for the club being prudent and not offering an increase in salary but listen to Salah he has been crying out for an offer and I’m not convinced at all that he is looking for more money just perhaps a longer deal i. e 3 years vs 2!

For all these instances there has to be context and Salah without doubt is the exception, he has an impeccable injury record, is in great condition and his numbers are far superior than any alternative that you could put him against! Let’s all remember how much we paid for Salah, the guy has well paid his fee and salary back ten fold, now is not the time to be sticky fingered with your wallet, show some class the player is a legend and a legend who is banging in goals and assists right now. Let’s not write him off based on his age and hypothetical decline when his actual numbers are stellar.

{Ed001's Note - Hughes has nothing to do with this.}

27.) 25 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 21:59:54
Here we go WDW, can never criticise the club, who have been diabolical and inept from the summer. But no, blames the player. Players come and go all the time, problem for us is we’ve won one title in 34 years because of our ineptitude in the market.

28.) 26 Nov 2024
25 Nov 2024 23:43:01
The owners of the club haven't been here for all of those 34 years.

we've not consistently challenged over those 34 years except for the period these owners have been here.

the owners aren't negotiating Mo's contract.

29.) 26 Nov 2024
26 Nov 2024 00:48:36
I didn’t mention the club @Frode and people are more than welcome to do so f they wish.

Like you, and most other people, I have absolutely no idea if the club has spoken / is speaking to Mo’s agent, or have tried / are trying to speak Mo about a new contract. My comments were specific to Mo’s possible self publicity and to the history of the club in replacing seemingly irreplaceable losses.

What I will say is that two years ago, which by common consent was the time the club should have renegotiated the contracts, Mo’s form had slumped after the loss in the Afcon final and the failure of Egypt to qualify for the World Cup and there weren’t that many people wanting to keep Mo, let alone renew his contract. Again, the observation isn’t really about the club per se, it’s more about fans’ (including me) perceptions.

As a final opinion we’ve also had a couple of years where Edwards has been criticised for awarding contracts that were much too long and Klopp for being sentimental in hanging onto players who should have been moved on. Maybe the club has decided to change the perception and to be a bit more ruthless in not extending. For me I would try and keep all three and think the club should be listening to me but unfortunately it’s not my call.

30.) 26 Nov 2024
26 Nov 2024 02:05:37
WDW - that's a good reminder right there. People on here were literally saying they would bite off any hand offering 100mil for Mo couple seasons ago to buy his replacement.

31.) 26 Nov 2024
26 Nov 2024 05:29:56
@Frode, a different way of looking at the stature of the club rather than the repetitive ‘once in 34 years’ - 34 being arbitrary anyway - is to say we are 1 of only 2 sides to have won the league in the last 5 years or that we have won the title more times than every club to play in the league with the exception of United - who we might well match this season. The club isn’t immune from making mistakes but so are the players. Everyone of them on the list I used wanted to leave Liverpool at the time. That’s not blaming players that is noting that they wanted to take up a new challenge somewhere else.

32.) 26 Nov 2024
26 Nov 2024 10:11:03
My personal take on this is that we lucked out buying one of the most driven and dedicated athletes of his generation, sure jurgen got the most out of him but to be fair he didn't even want him in the first place and even flirted with replacing him on multiple occasions. Mo wants to be at the very top winning the biggest prizes and he wants to do it with us rather than. anybody else, it's not like he's batting his eyelashes at other clubs and holding the club to ransom, he's gone out of his way saying he loves the club and the fans. Young players we sign are in awe of him, are desperate to be around him and want to learn how to put in the work to reach his level, because he had to overcome all the odds to get there himself. I don't really see why we should have any real hesitation here tbh.

33.) 28 Nov 2024
27 Nov 2024 23:14:22
Just a note for people, Edwards nor Hughes renew contracts.

That's Julian wards job, at least be angry at the right person.