Jamie Carragher has warned Mohamed Salah not to follow in the footsteps of former Liverpool players who departed Anfield under the false pretence "the grass was greener".
Salah, who turns 30 in mid-June, is out of contract next year and no agreement over an extension has been reached amid drawn-out negotiations. Jurgen Klopp has been tight-lipped over the situation while maintaining a relaxed demeanour but there is no denying things are reaching a critical point ahead of the summer transfer window.
It has been rare for players to choose to leave Liverpool in recent seasons given the vast success they have enjoyed, making rapid progress under Klopp before winning the Champions League in 2019 and Premier League the following year. However, there have been a few stars who decided they would be better off plying their trade elsewhere.
Philippe Coutinho is the most famous example as the playmaker completed a £142million transfer to Barcelona in the winter window of the 2017/18 season. While this allowed the Brazilian to fulfil a childhood dream of pulling on the famous Blaugrana shirt, he endured a challenging spell at Camp Nou which recently came to an end as he made his loan at Aston Villa a permanent move for £17million.
Shortly after Coutinho left Anfield, Emre Can departed on a free transfer for Juventus, where he plied his trade for one-and-half seasons before losing his spot in the starting XI and joining Borussia Dortmund. Another player to leave at the expiry of his contract with Liverpool was Georginio Wijnaldum, who brought his acclaimed five-year stint with the Reds to an end last summer by joining Paris Saint-Germain.
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The Dutch midfielder was a mainstay in Klopp's first-choice line-up but he has started less than half of PSG's Ligue 1 fixtures this season and reports in France even claimed he believes the decision to leave Liverpool was a mistake. Carragher fears Salah - Liverpool's top scorer this season with 30 goals - would come to a similar realisation if he departed Merseyside and appeared to cite the experiences of Coutinho, Can and Wijnaldum in a warning to the Egyptian forward.
Speaking after Liverpool's 2-1 victory at Southampton on Tuesday night, which Salah missed through injury, the former England defender told Sky Sports : "I think Salah should sign. He [Klopp] has turned good players into great players and Salah is one of them.
"This suits him, Jurgen Klopp suits him, but I think he should remember about two or three players who left and thought the grass was greener and then look at what they are doing this season.'"
