It's five years since Liverpool clinched the signing of Mohamed Salah.
Trophies in the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, FIFA World Club Cup and UEFA Super Cup have all arrived during that time, not to mention the 156 goals in 254 games in all competitions. The initial £36.5m that the Reds shelled out to land the Egyptian has proven to be a bargain.
Liverpool had identified Salah while at AS Roma as someone who was playing well beneath his ceiling in a system that didn't allow him to flourish. They felt that Jurgen Klopp's approach would deliver the very best out of the forward, but the heights that he has since reached must have surprised even the biggest supporter of his talents back in 2017.
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The forward has become Liverpool's talisman. He has developed into a truly world-class operator at the very highest level and it is his contribution to Jurgen Klopp's team that makes the desire for him to pen a new deal so great. A Reds side without Salah would feel very different, but with the great success that he has helped deliver, both collectively and individually, comes the requirement for ownership to pay more in wages. He has now placed himself among that very top tier that can command the biggest of salaries.
There is a balancing act for Fenway Sports Group, though. Liverpool have a wage structure that they see as key to both how the club operates as a business and also to the harmonious nature of the squad itself. By breaking structure significantly they feel it leaves them exposed to wage liabilities rising exponentially when new arrivals or contract renewals are negotiated.
Where Salah plays his football beyond next season is still something of an unknown. The Reds want him to stay, and the player has intimated that he would like to as well, but with the chance to gain huge financial reward and a new challenge next summer when he will be a free agent it provides an enticing opportunity for the 30-year-old to consider.
His contributions on the field over the past five years will stand the test of time. His pivotal role in the successes at home and abroad have helped deliver hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue into the club.
Off the field he has also been a boon to Liverpool and FSG, and that is something that the Reds ownership will understand.
Salah is one of the world's most prominent Muslim athletes. Just a short stroll from the bustling Times Square in New York City and there is a mural of the superstar in his Egyptian kit that dominates the side of one of Manhattan's large buildings. It makes no mention of Liverpool, instead focusing on him as an athlete. He is someone with global appeal that reaches some demographics in a way that other athletes simply cannot. To have a player with such global appeal in the squad can be of significant commercial benefit to the clubs for whom they play.
Andrea Sartori, global head of sport for analysts Football Benchmark, told the ECHO last year: "Salah is a world class player, but in football there are perhaps only four players (Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé) whose departure could significantly impact a club's commercial revenues.
"Indirectly though, it could hurt the club, if on-pitch performances deteriorate as a result of his departure. Salah has been the club's top scorer for all four full seasons he spent at Liverpool, and while the Reds have been conducting successful business in the transfer market in recent seasons, the risk of whether Salah's replacement could reach the same heights is certainly in the decision makers' thoughts.
"Salah’s impact on Liverpool FC's commercial streams can mainly be twofold: his significant followership and brand value increases the value of commercial deals for potential sponsors, helping the club tapping into foreign markets, as partially demonstrated by Liverpool FC's agreement with Vodafone Egypt.
"On the other hand, the main way he impacts the commercial revenues is with his on-field performances, as Salah's presence on the pitch secured them a Champions League final in his first season and the continental glory in the following season at the club, significantly increasing worldwide exposure of Klopp's men.
"Salah boasts 73m followers across six popular social media channel (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Weibo), which certainly falls short of Ronaldo's, Messi's and Neymar’s followings. However, these three players are in a stratosphere on their own, and despite having much fewer followers, Salah is still one of the most popular football players in terms of global followership.
"What makes Salah special and different to the above mentioned stars are two crucial factors. Firstly, Salah has been shining his star in the English Premier League, by far the most popular national championship worldwide. As such, he had an advantage in the exposure provided by the league. Secondly, Salah is the most followed African player in the world. Due to the currently relative scarcity of world class players from the continent, African fans can rally around him for support."
Looking at shirt sales globally, Salah's appeal has seen him place among the top five in terms of player shirts sold in the world over the 12 months to February 2022, something that acts as a boost to the incentivised nature of Liverpool's kit deal with Nike, one that is worth a guaranteed £30m per season but one that holds its true value in the 20 per cent that the club receive on the sale of Nike/Liverpool merchandise globally. That is something that could make the deal worth as much as £70m per year to the Reds.
A good chunk of those shirt sales have been driven by Salah, with data provided by the FIFA-authorised Euromericas Marketing Agency showing that the Egyptian sold the fourth most shirts in 2021, with 'Salah 11' having sold 816,000.
That figure put him behind only Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski (970,000), Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo (1.05m) and Lionel Messi of Paris Saint-Germain (1.2m). He was ahead of the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne and Neymar, who all made up the top-10 list.
Salah gives Liverpool an 'in' to new markets and the strength of his own brand only continues to grow.
The Reds pay a third party firm for image rights for Salah, something that is valuable to both the player and the club. The value of those image rights have no doubt increased over the past five years.
Five years on from arriving at Anfield the 'Egyptian King' has ensured his legacy already and will go down as one of the greatest players every to have pulled on a Liverpool shirt. His importance to the on-field and off-field operation at Anfield hasn't diminished in that time, only grown, and Liverpool will know that they have to be alert to all factors when considering what course of action is taken with regards to extending his stay beyond six years.
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