Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson has blamed Manchester City star Jack Grealish for the Reds’ issues in getting star forward Mohamed Salah to sign a new Anfield deal.
The Egyptian forward won the Premier League ’s golden boot award for the third time in his career this season with 23 goals, an accolade he shared with Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-Min. Salah’s contract expires at the end of the 2022/23 season and while Liverpool have been in talks with the former Chelsea and Roma forward over extending his say, no progress has been made.
The fear from some is that Salah could follow fellow African star Sadio Mane in heading for an exit, with the Senegalese winger announcing his intentions to leave Liverpool last week. Lawrenson believes that the move that saw City sign Grealish from Aston Villa for £100million last summer, that led to him becoming one of the highest-paid players in England, has led to Salah demanding a similar salary, something which Liverpool seem unprepared to do at present.
“Salah is absolutely and totally up there with the best. He plays on the right and he’s left footed and he scores goals for fun. I can’t remember Liverpool ever having a player like that before. It’s almost a guarantee of goals if you have Mo," he told 888 Sport (as published by the Daily Star ).
"And that’s why it’s a really delicate issue what to do with him. Some supporters are like, how much money does he want? Pay him that. But the real issue began when City signed Jack Grealish for £100m and everybody knows his wages.
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"Mo’s agent probably then thought, well if Grealish is going there for £100m then my boy – who is a much better player and scores tons of goals – should at the very least be on what Grealish is. But obviously they’ve got different terms and conditions at City.”
While Salah’s season saw him contribute 36 direct goal contributions in 35 league games, the same could not be said for Grealish. The winger scored just three goals and provided the same number of assists in 26 Premier League appearances.
However, Grealish averaged a free-kick won every 34.9 minutes last season, with only Crystal Palace duo Wilfried Zaha (27.3) and Jordan Ayew (30.7) getting fouled more often (minimum 25 appearances).
During the 2021/22 season, Salah entered the Premier League’s exclusive list of players to score 100 or more goals in the competition’s 30-year history.
With 120 Premier League goals to his name, Salah is the joint-20th top scorer in Premier League history and is also the highest African player on the list, closely followed by Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane (111).
Grealish remains the most expensive player ever signed by a Premier League club, with the deal also being a British record.
