Mohamed Salah claims "not everything is about the money" regarding his Liverpool contract impasse and admits he is not expecting a resolution before the summer.
Salah has a little over a year left on terms he signed in June 2018 and is yet to agree a new deal at Anfield, despite having repeatedly indicated he would like to stay with the club beyond his current deal.
Manager Jurgen Klopp has attempted to project an aura of calm around the situation in his dealings with media, but with just over 12 months left on the contract of their 30-goal top scorer, some supporters are understandably beginning to worry about losing their star forward.
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Salah spoke earlier this season about wanting "to stay until the last day" of his football career but has since suggested the situation was not in his own hands.
In a new interview with FourFourTwo, Salah has now said the financial package on offer is not the root problem behind the ongoing negotiations, but claimed he is not worried about the issue right now.
Asked if he was confident of remaining a Liverpool player beyond 2023, Salah said: “I don’t know, I have one year left. I think the fans know what I want, but in the contract it’s not everything about the money at all. So I don’t know, I can’t tell you exactly. I have one year left and the fans know what I want.
“This club means a lot to me – I’ve enjoyed my football here more than anywhere, I gave the club everything and everybody saw that. I’ve had a lot of unbelievable moments here, winning trophies, individual goals, individual trophies. It’s like a family here.
“I’m not worried, I don’t let myself worry about something. The season didn’t finish yet, so let’s finish it in the best possible way – that’s the most important thing. Then in the last year, we’re going to see what’s going to happen.”
And he admitted he was expecting to stay with Liverpool next season, adding: “Yeah. Er, I think so." Before joking: “But if they want me to go, that’s something different!"
Salah also talked up his desire to get near Ian Rush's all-time scoring record at Anfield of 346 goals, having brought up his 29th and 30th of the campaign in Tuesday's 4-0 win over Manchester United, a target which indicates his desire to remain at Liverpool beyond next summer.
“Hopefully before I go, I will be the first one,” he added. “More than 300, it’s quite tough to get. But let’s see."
The full interview is available in the new issue of FourFourTwo, which is available from Thursday, April 28.
