Mohamed Salah has agreed a sensational new deal with Liverpool worth in excess of £350,000 a week, making him the highest paid player in club history.
After almost a year of tortuous negotiation, the Egyptian star has finally accepted a new contract that will keep him at Anfield until at least 2025.
Both sides were committed to finding a compromise deal, with Salah always insistent he wanted to stay at Anfield, and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was determined to keep his world class striker.
While talks were often fractious, with Salah’s agent Ramy Abbas Issa sometimes posting controversial tweets, but talks accelerated in recent days with the basic framework of a deal agreed in principle.
A delegation led by new Sporting Director Julian Ward, flew out to Egypt where Salah is holidaying, to complete the finer details of the contract, and sign the new deal.
The contract reflects Salah’s status as one of the world’s leading footballers and in the bracket of a true world class great, with Liverpool accepting they had to stretch their wage structure to keep the 30 year old.
But the club have stressed they have structured the deal to ensure it falls within the boundaries of their first team wage deals, with the headline figure based on success and appearance bonuses.
Liverpool have always insisted on contracts which are performance related, offering big bonuses for success, and Salah has bought into that principle by agreeing a deal which is weighted towards performance based reward.
The club was also at pains to stress that Salah has behaved impeccably throughout the long negotiations and given his total commitment to the club, both in terms of performance and his commitment to agreeing a new deal.
Salah always made it clear he would stay with the club until the end of his contract, in the hope of finding a compromise agreement.
It represents the biggest achievement for Ward so far, in securing a player who his manager Klopp insists can play well into his 30s, and remain at the summit of world football.
Salah joins the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Alisson signing long term contracts, to provide a backbone for the club’s future.
