Mohamed Salah ‘barometer’ for Liverpool contract revealed after agent ‘shouts his mouth off’

Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James has slammed Mohamed Salah’s agent for “shouting his mouth off” and is convinced the Reds star will sign a new contract at Anfield.

The Egyptian has been heavily linked with a move away for over a year with clubs in Saudi Arabia offering the forward huge sums of money to lure him from the Premier League.

Salah revealed earlier this month that he’s yet to be offered a new deal and his agent, Abbas Issa, took to social media to dispel claims peddled by so-called insiders.

He wrote on X: ‘FYI – all those ‘journalists’ who imply having ‘inside information’ about Mohamed’s future are making claims/posts based on absolutely nothing. Just click-whoring. “Sources close to Mohamed” don’t exist. This post is really just to tell you that they don’t know.’

We’re not entirely sure how that amounts to him “shouting his mouth off” but that’s what James claims his representative has done, with the ex-goalkeeper adding that Salah wouldn’t be producing such excellent performances under Arne Slot if he had had his head turned by interest from elsewhere.

He told the Daily Star: “I don’t think Salah’s agents’ comments are going to change anything about his situation or future at the club. An agent isn’t going to get a better deal just by shouting his mouth off.

“For me, I look at what Salah is producing in the shirt as a barometer to his desire and likelihood of signing a new contract. His first three performances were sensational – he came back and looked better than we’ve seen him, and when you’re Mo Salah and you have his body of work, that is really saying something.

“I think if Mo Salah wanted out of Liverpool, or he had his head turned by the other opportunities that are available to him, and there will be plenty, then I don’t think you see a version of Mo Salah that we’ve seen so far this season. We know that he can earn huge sums of money by moving elsewhere.

“Respectively, he could take a move to one of those places and not have to produce the standard of performance that he does for Liverpool. What Mo’s doing, it looks like he could produce a season that could be his best at Liverpool. That’s why I think he will stay. He’s not slowing down; he’s going through the gears.”

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Like Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk’s deals are also up in the summer, but James remains relaxed about their futures, adding: “It would have been easy for Slot to go in and offer these guys new deals right away, but he’s waited, which I think is the right thing to do for a new manager.

“For the players, they’ve seen what Slot is bringing on the pitch and off it, and they will be thinking that they want to be part of it. Arne will want to keep the levels high; he’ll want to see improvement. There are stronger doubts about Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk because they are older players moving towards the end of their careers.

“But from what I’ve seen from their performances this season, these guys don’t look like players that are happy to see things out – they look hungry to achieve something. From a Liverpool point-of-view, the more successful they are on the pitch, the easier it is to retain these players and ask them to commit for a couple more years.”