New Blues owner Todd Boehly had lined up Reds star Salah, 30, as talks stalled over a new three-year deal. 4 Mo Salah only led Liverpool to a new deal after they nearly doubled his wages to make him their record earnerCredit: Alamy 4 Virgil Van Dijk has been replaced as Liverpool’s top scorer by Mo SalahCredit: The Times He was a major factor in Kop owners FSG agreeing a deal worth almost £400,000-a-week. Salah, through agent Ramy Abbas, had made it clear to Fenway Sports Group that he would consider a return to Stamford Bridge, where he spent two years from 2014-16. FSG have spent almost a year trying to address wage demands beyond the structure that saw Virgil van Dijk as the club’s top earner on £225,000-a-week. SunSport revealed that Liverpool were still willing to take £60m for Salah rather than let him leave for free next June at the end of his old deal. FREE BET AND SIGN UP OFFERS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS But the Americans realized that, after being forced to sell Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich in a £35m deal, losing Salah to a Prem rival would have gone down badly. The Blues’ threat forced a major rethink before handing Salah a deal that will see him pay at least £62m. He signed on the dotted line on Friday while on vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos. There may be a bigger price tag from FSG for the likes of Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold who signed new deals last season, they could now demand a significant addition. However, the Anfield hierarchy insist Salah’s fee deal is highly motivated, with part of it linked to the Egyptian star’s image rights. They hope these details will let them off the hook if other stars now start demanding more. However, in the end FSG still believed it was worth the risk of taking any financial collateral damage from Salah’s deal collapsing. Darwin Nunez was signed as Mane’s replacement for a £64m fee, raising his potential club record £85m figure. Portuguese wonder Fabio Carvalho, 19, was also brought in from Fulham in another £7.7m attacking investment. But in the end losing Salah to a major competitor like Chelsea either in the coming weeks or next year they knew would be seen as a huge blow to the club’s prestige. 4 Striker Mo Salah could have lined up alongside Mateo Kovacic and Co had Liverpool not decided to hand him a huge offer instead of selling him Credit: Richard Pelham / The Sun 4 Egypt superstar Mo Salah was at Stamford Bridge in 2014-16Credit: AFP