The spotlight continues to increase on Liverpool as they wait to enter contract negotiations with three of their star players.
It has been a brilliant start to the season on the pitch for the Reds, with three wins out of three and not a single goal conceded so far.
The icing on the cake came on Sunday, as Liverpool headed to Old Trafford to face Manchester United and came away with all three points.
Key to the win was, as ever, Mohamed Salah. And although Salah has earned plenty of praise for his one goal, two assist, performance, it was what the Egyptian did after the game which caused the most chatter.
With the eyes of the world on him, Salah confirmed that he has not been offered a new contract by Liverpool as things stand.
Phil Thompson takes issue with Mo Salah stance
It was a little rare to see Salah throw the gauntlet down in such fashion. As expected, it has caused plenty of debate in the press.
Micah Richards has weighed in on whether Salah will leave and the former Man City player is not the only one speculating.
So far, the general feeling has been that Liverpool need to get a move on and offer Salah whatever he wants to sign. However, speaking to TalkSPORT (03/09/24 9.14am), former Reds captain Phil Thompson has a slightly different view.
“I thought it was wrong timing from Mo if you ask me,” says Thompson. “Listen, it’s difficult. He says there has not been any contract offer, and everybody has jumped on that, and media-wise, quite rightly so. It’s what they love.”
READ MORE: Gary Lineker shares what Liverpool need to do to keep Mohamed Salah at the club
“I felt for the club a little bit. They won’t come out and say, ‘of course we have offered him a contract’, and that’s what I would like to think has happened. And with Van Dijk, and with Trent.
“Is that actually what they want or do they see themselves moving for nothing at the end of the season?” adds the former midfielder. “The club can’t come out and say, no, Mo is wrong, we have offered him a contract. And I would like to think something has.
“Whether it is not to his liking is another thing, but football clubs are like that. They do sort of hold back and they don’t want to come out into the media and say, of course we have.
“I think for Mo to say nobody has offered him a contract yet, I would like to think that is not quite correct.”
Mind games from Mo?
Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion and as a trophy-laden former captain of the club, Thompson’s holds more weight than many. But we’re not sure we agree with him here.
If the club had indeed offered Salah new terms and they weren’t to his liking, we would surely have heard a rebuttal by now.
It would not come from the club directly, of course it wouldn’t, but they have many ways of getting their message out in this day and age.
As a result, we think that Mo is simply telling it exactly as it is. That does not mean that his comments weren’t a little cheeky and perhaps he was being a touch provocative towards the club, but why shouldn’t he be?
Playing as well as he is right now, Salah has an extremely strong hand in negotiations and with fans on the Egyptians’ side, the pressure is all on Liverpool here. Let’s hope for some positive movement in the coming weeks.
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