Mohamed Salah signed a new three-year contract with Liverpool. BBC Sport understands the deal – worth more than £350,000-a-week – makes the 30-year-old the highest-paid player in the club’s history. The Egyptian forward only had a year left on his previous deal and there were doubts over whether he would stay. “It’s the best decision for us and the best decision for him. He belongs to us I think. This is his club now,” Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said. “This is a special treat for our supporters to make their weekend even more enjoyable. I’m sure there will be some celebrations about this news tonight.” Salah has scored 156 goals in 254 appearances during his five years at Anfield since moving from Roma. The wide man said: “It feels great and I’m excited to win trophies with the club. It’s a happy day for everyone. We’re in a good position to fight for everything.” Salah has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup during his time at Anfield. He has also won or shared three Premier League Golden Boots and was named PFA Player of the Year twice while at Klopp’s side. “I have no doubt that Mo’s best years are yet to come. And that’s saying something, because his first five seasons here were legendary,” Klopp said. The renewal comes as a major boost following the departure of compatriot Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich this summer. Everton v Liverpool: Relive Mohamed Salah’s Puskas award-winning Merseyside derby goal Liverpool won the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup this season, but were in a quadruple until the final week of the season, losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid. They have signed Benfica and Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez for an initial fee of £64m to compensate for the loss of Mane. “He needs a little time, I think, to renew himself, but now everything is done, so we just have to focus on what’s next,” said former Chelsea striker Salah. “I think you can see over the last five or six years the team has always been going [upwards]. Last season we came close to winning four but unfortunately in the last week of the season we lost two trophies. “We have new signings as well. We just have to keep working hard, have a good vision, be positive and keep everything going.”
Salah’s priority was staying at Anfield – analysis
Mandeep Sanghera, BBC Sport Talks had stalled but have accelerated in recent days and a Reds delegation, led by new sporting director Julian Ward, traveled to meet Salah on his summer break to sign the contract. Mike Gordon, chairman of Fenway Sports Group, which owns the club, also played a key role in the negotiations. Gordon and Ward had face-to-face talks with Salah in Miami around the end of the year and these were significant as this was when the broad structure of the deal was discussed. Salah’s priority was to stay at Liverpool and the club’s was to keep him as areas of the contract continued to be completed. The Egypt international made it clear he would not accept a sale and his stance was to either renew or leave at the end of the contract, which this one has replaced and was set to expire in the summer of 2023. The contract is structured in a way that suits Liverpool’s current model but also rewards individual performance. Essentially it’s based on rewarding the level of goals and goal involvements that Salah contributes. This also keeps another key to Liverpool’s success at the club, as in April manager Jurgen Klopp and his team extended their deal with the club until 2026.
