Owen predicts Salah future amid Liverpool contract wrangling

Joe Williams
Liverpool striker Mo Salah celebrates scoring a goal

Michael Owen would be “very surprised” if Mo Salah didn’t renew his contract with Liverpool as a move to Manchester City would be the only other option.

The Egyptian has been in sensational form this season as he is helping the Reds’ quadruple pursuit.

He is leading the race to win the Premier League’s Player of the Year award and has grabbed 28 goals and ten assists across all competitions.


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Salah is desperate to stay at Liverpool and has made that clear in several interviews but he has urged the club to make him an acceptable offer.

The sticking point seems to be over wages with Salah approaching 30 but Owen can’t see any other option for the Egyptian than remaining at Liverpool.

Owen told BBC Sport: “I’d be very surprised if Mo Salah didn’t sign with Liverpool. What are the options at the moment?

“You are only going either sideways to Manchester City or down anywhere else because there is no-one else as good as these two teams in the world at the moment.

“Let’s give everyone time because these things don’t happen overnight.

“You are talking about one of the biggest clubs in the world and one of the biggest players in the world and that player is about to sign the biggest contract of his life.”

On the length of negotiations, Owen added:”I think it’s entirely normal that negotiations can drag on a little bit. You can’t give players what they want. The whole game would be a disaster if that was the case.

“Liverpool have got to run it as a business. They can’t, of course, give any player what they want because if you do then there are lots of other players in the squad that could be knocking on Jurgen Klopp’s door saying, ‘well, hang on a minute, if he’s on this then I should be on that’. Then the whole structure they’ve built so well over the years would fall apart.

“I’m sure Liverpool are very sensible, I’m sure Mo Salah and his representatives are all very sensible and understand that.

“It’s just a case of them finding the middle ground and, hopefully, everybody will find that quite soon.

“Mo Salah has got to be thinking about the chances of success in the future – if he’s thinking along those lines then Liverpool ticks that box. It’s just a question of whether they tick the box financially as well.”