Crouch, McManaman support Liverpool’s Salah contract stance

Former Liverpool duo Peter Crouch and Steve McManaman has backed the club’s stance on Mohamed Salah’s contract situation.

Salah is out-of-contract next summer and is yet to agree a new deal with the Premier League side.

Gossip: Salah considers PL move as Liverpool talks ‘break down’

The Egyptian is widely recognised as one of the world’s best and is enjoying a stellar season with the Reds as they look to add to the Carabao Cup success they saw last month.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said on Friday that the club ‘cannot do much more’ for Salah but it was later reported that he has no desire to accept a new deal with the current terms that are on offer.

A new deal for Salah is likely to break Liverpool’s wage structure and Crouch and McManaman have admitted that whilst they would love him to stay, they have to be careful how much they can pay him.

Speaking on BT Sport (quotes via Liverpool Echo), McManaman said: “We all want him to stay.

“Every Liverpool fan wants him to. But there has to be a point where Liverpool say ‘We can pay this amount and that is our maximum’.

“I don’t think Liverpool are going to change their structure, I really don’t. You cannot compare his situation to [Kylian] Mbappe. You can’t suddenly say ‘I want the same price tag and wages as Mbappe’. It’s not going to work.

“Virgil [van Dijk] wants it, Alisson wants it, [Jordan] Henderson wants it. There has to come a point where Liverpool make a decision or Mo makes a decision.”

Crouch added: “Salah can go in there and say ‘I want to be the highest-paid player in the world’. What he has done in the last few seasons, he has the ability and power to go in there and say that,” he said.

“The problem is Van Dijk is almost as important, Alisson. Where does it end? It then becomes a problem. We all want to keep Mo Salah and give him what he wants, but he has to fall in line with what they are prepared to pay.

“Of course you make him the highest-paid player, but not way beyond the structure you’ve got. Liverpool, as a club, will always be bigger than any individual.

“There are times where Liverpool have sold players and you thought it was unthinkable they would do that, but they have always recovered.”