The noises have been more encouraging in recent days regarding Mohamed Salah and his Liverpool future.
Only a few short weeks ago the two sides seemed to be well apart, a narrative not helped by the use of cryptic emojis on social media by Salah's agent, Ramy Abbas Issa. The laughing emojis he used shortly after a Jurgen Klopp press conference prior to the game with Brighton & Hove Albion last month, where the Liverpool boss suggested that the ball was now in Salah's court and the club had done what it could, did not go down well with some fans.
The stance seemed to have softened and Salah, who has said previously he would be happy to finish his playing career at Anfield, now seems to have made the pendulum swing the other way, with Egyptian sports minister Ashraf Sobhi claiming that Salah had told him that it is his intention to renew his deal with the Reds.
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A new contract would comfortably make him the highest paid player in the club's history. Liverpool have been aided in their quest to keep Salah by certain factors such as Real Madrid set to land Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain's internal struggles despite the enormous amounts of money they have thrown at success, Barcelona's lack of financial power to make a deal happen, and the likely rejection of any overtures from Premier League clubs from the Egyptian. Then there is the success the Reds have been enjoying and the adulation that Salah receives on Merseyside, with the 29-year-old able to go on and become a true Anfield legend, something he has pretty much assured already.
For Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, it was never going to be as simple as just paying whatever it takes. That has never been the FSG way, nor is it likely to ever be the FSG way. An ownership group that places so much emphasis on seeking value where others don't see it, and growing the success of their teams sustainably, will know that making major concessions for one player and disrupting the balance of the wage bill, while something they could afford in the short term, would have a major impact on what the wage bill costs will look like further down the line. What happens when other players want to renew? Or when the Liverpool come into the market for new players? They will want to be paid on a level with what the Reds' best players earn, and when you have already made those concessions for others, the bargaining position you have is weaker.
FSG will know that Salah is their talisman. They will know their chances of winning trophies and earning more money by doing so are significantly enhanced by having the Egypt captain remain a part of the club. FSG will also know that it would be unwelcome PR among the fan base should they be the ones to have allowed Salah to leave, especially given some of the criticism that has been levelled at them by some in the past around a lack of investment in the first team at key times. But the rise of the wage bill is something that has ballooned since FSG took over, and while that is to be expected as wages grew for clubs across the board, ensuring they are not taking a decision that will cost far more in the future through the wage structure changing will be a key consideration.
The Reds' owners have recent experience in something similar across the Atlantic when their Boston Red Sox team faced the ire of supporters after losing their star man Mookie Betts to a league rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betts was the Red Sox talisman, he was the face of the team and a player who had helped the organisation land the World Series in 2018. Two years on from that, and having been traded to the Dodgers after an agreement on a new deal could not be reached, Betts was winning the World Series with his new team while the Red Sox missed out on the post-season altogether after a miserable campaign.
The issue around Betts leaving has similarities to what FSG are going through with Salah at present, but the two are not the same. The key point being that Salah is keen to stay and Betts was keen to get to test the free agency market, where he could have earned a lot of money as an MLB standout. According to US media outlets, FSG offered him a $200m extension in 2017, a figure that rose to $300m before he left in 2019. But realising that he wasn't going to put pen to paper, and with a year left on his deal, FSG decided to trade Betts to the Dodgers to get something in return knowing that they would lose him for nothing when the clock ran down on his contract.
It was a situation that placed FSG in the firing line of Red Sox fans, angry that their owners had traded away their best player for financial reasons, leaving them undeniably weaker as a team in the short term. FSG's argument was that with the Red Sox needing to get themselves under the luxury tax threshold that exists in baseball, where clubs incur heavy financial penalties for being in breach of a pre-determined salary cap, there was a need to get something in return for Betts to allow them to try and rebuild for a tilt at success in the coming seasons.
In a pandemic-affected 2020, season the Red Sox flopped and finished dead last in their division. But the following season they reached the American League Championship game, the contest where the victors head to the World Series, but were beaten in six games by the Houston Astros. The success of last season came as a surprise to many, and the Red Sox have attempted to set themselves up to challenge in 2022 with the addition of one of baseball's biggest stars, Trevor Story, in a $160m multi-year deal. They are also likely to try and negotiate new terms with top players such as Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.
Speaking to The Athletic, Red Sox president and FSG partner Sam Kennedy said: "I knew when we were unable to come to an agreement with Mookie and we made the decision in the best interest of the franchise that we needed to move on, I knew at that moment it was going to be incredibly painful for our fans.
"I didn’t know exactly how that would play out. I know I didn’t handle it great in the wake of the Mookie trade in terms of public comments, or trying to defend it, or speak about it. It was a hard time because the truth is we always wanted Mookie to be here forever, but it wasn’t going to happen.
"Having experienced and lived through some challenges in the organisation put us in a better place, put me as a senior leader in a better place, to deal with it. At the end of the day we managed through it and I think it’s a testament to one thing and that’s having consistent ownership. What you really want is consistency in ownership that knows how to deal with difficult times and difficult decisions."
The Salah situation has its similarities but the key element of the player and club both wanting him to remain are crucial. FSG will have a hard stop on what they would be willing to pay to retain his services, and that figure would have been reached by some serious number crunching and assessing of all the options. It isn't a decision as simple as stating you wouldn't find a player of his quality for the money it would cost him in wages. That is true, but it is the longer-term impact of making concessions that will determine how far FSG are willing to bend.
Salah wants to stay, FSG want him to stay and the market conditions that exist currently mean there are less sharks in the water then there may have been previously. The fact that the two sides are still talking, that Klopp appears at ease and that Salah continues to deliver on the pitch means that the tone is positive. When a final decision is reached is an unknown at this point. At such a crucial time for Liverpool, chasing an unprecedented quadruple, the most sensible solution may well be to allow football to be the focus for the next few weeks and keeping the gaze on success firmly fixed before a line in the sand is finally drawn.
