While the noises over Mohamed Salah potentially extending his stay at Liverpool have been more encouraging in recent weeks. it is a situation that remains unresolved.
The tone appears to have softened and comments from the likes of the Egyptian sports minister Ashraf Sobhi, who claimed Salah had told him he intended to stay at Liverpool, as well as Reds boss Jurgen Klopp's continued calmness over the situation have helped ease some worried minds after Salah's agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, had attempted to whip up something of a frenzy with his cryptic emojis in the aftermath of Klopp's claims that the club had done what it could and that the ball was now in the court of the 29-year old Salah.
With the market options more limited through Barcelona's financial issues, Real Madrid's continued pursuit of Kylian Mbappe, a near civil war going on at Paris Saint-Germain and the likelihood that Salah wouldn't move to another Premier League team for financial or competitive reasons, there will be an air of confidence that a deal with Salah can be reached.
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But with the Reds focusing on a huge run-in where they remain in contention for the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup it is hard to imagine that it is an issue that gets resolved before the curtain is brought down on this current campaign.
That may provide some encouragement for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group. Yet while the hope may have been raised on extending Salah's Liverpool stay, although by no means a foregone conclusion, they are now faced with another major contract headache across the Atlantic with the Boston Red Sox, and it is an contract situation that Red Sox fans, like Liverpool fans with Salah's future, want sorted as soon as possible.
Rafael Devers is one of the Red Sox's key players. The 25-year-old third baseman made his Major League Baseball debut in 2017 and became an All-Star for the first time last year, receiving a Silver Slugger Award in 2021. But Devers is an unrestricted free agent in 2023 and discussions have started between ownership and Devers around keeping him at Fenway Park, although the two parties are way apart when it comes to salary, as much as $100m according to reports in the US, where it is claimed that Devers is seeking a new long-term deal that would put him in the same bracket as the elite in his position at MLB level, around $300m.
Appearing on the KayRod Cast on Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan said: "When I say not close at all, I mean not close at all. It’s a significant, significant chasm between what Rafael Devers wants, and what the Boston Red Sox at this point have been willing to offer."
The stand-off isn't something that is likely to be resolved any time soon either, and the situation carries the hallmarks of the departure of Mookie Betts in 2020 after he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers after intimating he wouldn't sign a new Boston deal.
The Red Sox made an offer but for some Boston fans they didn't go far enough to try and stop their best player leaving for a rival, something that ended up with the Dodgers winning the World Series in a pandemic-impacted season and the Red Sox finishing dead last in the American League.
FSG argued that they traded Betts in order to get at least something back for fear of losing him for nothing in free agency and the fact that they were over the luxury tax threshold, where teams are penalised financially for breaching the salary cap. The whole saga angering a large number of Red Sox fans, with the decision by FSG to allow Betts to leave seen as one motivated by money rather than a competitive desire.
FSG and the Red Sox, who landed a major star in Trevor Story a fortnight ago in a six-year $140m deal, are also facing a contract stand-off with Xander Bogaerts. The 29-year old shortstop is entering the third year of a six-year, $120m extension but can opt out of his deal at the end of this year, and with Bogaerts having already rejected the first offer from the Red Sox prior to opening day and indicated a willingness not to negotiate during the season, FSG face another battle to keep hold of one of their stars further down the line, with both renewals likely to see them have to spend considerably more.
It is a familiar battle for FSG. After Betts in Boston came Salah at Liverpool. FSG lost the first battle, whether by choice or otherwise, and will be conscious that losing the second battle will be something not warmly received by many Reds fans. But with Salah still not sorted and two more major contract headaches on the horizon, they have some major calls to make on both sides of the Atlantic.
