Liverpool's attempts to tie Mohamed Salah down to a longer deal appear no further along.
It was accepted that talks with the Reds' talismanic Egyptian would take place after the season had concluded, when progress would hopefully be made. Of course, the season has only just finished and players have jetted off around the world to wind down after a gruelling campaign that was fought on all fronts, with Salah himself heading to Egypt.
In the coming weeks the talks will start again, and for all the reported bluster from the likes of Barcelona, who have their eyes on a free transfer swoop next summer despite remaining in a financial hole following the pandemic, Liverpool will enter into it hoping to get Salah committed for the long term.
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Like always exists with owners Fenway Sports Group, there will be a ceiling as to what they are willing to offer, with the US owners unwilling to break the wage structure that has been carefully crafted at the club, one which they see as giving the best chance of a harmonious squad as well as keeping a rein on costs. Had it been a case of paying Salah whatever it took then the deal would have already been inked and situation put to bed.
Liverpool and Salah both have an idea about what he is worth. One of the world's most prolific marksmen for several seasons now, Salah racked up another 31 goals in all competitions in 2021/22, enough to bag him the Golden Boot accolade to go with his Playmaker of the Year award and his gong for being crowned English Men's Footballer of the Year for 2022. His output has not diminished and replacing someone of his calibre would be an extraordinarily tall order, not to mention extremely expensive.
FSG have been in a similar situation before in 2020 when, across the Atlantic, their Boston Red Sox team faced the ire of fans 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.
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.
The long-held belief was that Betts wanted to leave and test free agency and had been unwilling to negotiate new terms with the Red Sox, no matter the figure on the contract. The Red Sox had made numerous offers to Betts, all of them receiving a rejection before he eventually departed for the Dodgers a year before the end of his deal, with FSG unwilling to see their star man leave for nothing in return. FSG offered him a $200m extension in 2017, a figure that rose to $300m before he left.
But in a revealing interview with Boston radio station WEEI, Betts said: " There was an offer that was put out there and we just declined and we felt, I just wanted to get my value, man, That’s all. Just like any person that lives, they want to get their value, what they’re worth. That’s pretty much all that that it was. Just the numbers didn’t align, which is normal. It’s all normal things.
"We just had to go our separate ways. Just like anything else, there was a lot of talk where I didn’t want to stay, or this, that, and the other, that’s false. It’s just business. It is what it is.
"I was able to kind of get over saying no the first time, seeing these big numbers on the paper. Once I was able to say no the first time, it got a little easier and a little easier."
Salah, rightly will want to receive what he believes he is worth. The wages in football have skyrocketed in recent years and even the pandemic hasn't done much to halt that growth. Clubs being willing to offer mammoth wages causes a domino effect, one that means everyone has to continue to pay more and more to keep up, and Liverpool face skewing their wage bill against their wishes to keep Salah.
The stance of both sides is understandable. Salah is right to feel he can command the same as others who have achieved less and may not be on his level, and if that money is on offer elsewhere at Europe then that is a temptation.
For Liverpool and FSG they also have reason to maintain their position. FSG are 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, they 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.
The hope is that the season just gone has done for Salah what it did for manager Jurgen Klopp, who extended his stay to 2026 having long been expected to leave Anfield in 2024. The last 12 months restored the energy and commitment to the cause for the Reds boss, and hopefully Salah will feel the same. But FSG will still need to make sure that he is getting what he feels he is worth, or end up with a repeat of their Betts nightmare.
