Liverpool are paying ‘astronomical’ wages to Mohamed Salah, after the Egyptian signed a new deal at the club.
That’s according to former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara. Speaking to Sky Sports, O’Hara claimed that although the Liverpool star’s salary is eye-watering, that’s simply the going rate.
“It’s the world we live in, it’s astronomical wages,” he said. “When I was playing in the Premier League, the top wage was £100k-a-week, now we’re talking £350k-a-week and that’s just the way the game’s gone. At the end of the day if you’re one of the best players in the world, there are players out there on £600k-a-week at Real Madrid, so you’ve got to be valued as a player.”
Despite the numbers being talked about, O’Hara insisted that Salah’s new contract is money well spent for Liverpool.
“It’s a crazy amount of money, we know that,” he continued. “But for what he’s done for Liverpool and the realm that he’s in in terms of the star quality that he is, he’s worth every penny.”
No concerns from Klopp
As O’Hara points out, in football terms, Salah’s new wage is very much par for the course.
The real point of interest will come when Liverpool are dealing with renewals and/or new signings moving forward.
Whereas most of the top players at the club were previously earning similar amounts, that is now no longer the case.
Salah is the new yardstick. How Liverpool deal with that will go a long way to determining the health of their dressing room moving forward.
Jurgen Klopp reportedly has no concerns over the matter. The Reds’ boss is said to be certain that the rest of his squad will take no issue with Salah’s new title as the best paid Liverpool player of all time.
Klopp is usually a pretty good gauge of these things. It’s unlikely that Liverpool would have sanctioned such a move had senior figures believed it would cause a problem.
The fact of the matter is that Liverpool’s senior players would probably have been more upset at the lack of ambition had Salah left along with Sadio Mane.
There may be added pressure on Mo to perform in the coming season. But given the closeness inside the Liverpool dressing room, his teammates will be doing their best to ease that pressure, rather than add to it.
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