Liverpool Won’t Offer New Deal To $46M Star This Year Despite Real, Barcelona’s Interest: Report

Liverpool FC reportedly are not in a hurry to extend Mohamed Salah’s contract which is due to expire in the summer of 2023 amid interest from elite clubs such as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Soccer journalist Fabrizio Romano, who is an expert in the European transfer market, has confirmed that the Reds have not received anything from these clubs [Real Madrid and Barcelona], while the Egyptian King’s agent has also not been contacted for any advanced talks.

"In this moment, interest? For sure, because, obviously, we’re talking about a fantastic player so it’s impossible for any club not to be interested in him. But at the moment, there is nothing advanced with this agent or with Liverpool. Liverpool have not received anything from these clubs, so they were a bit surprised," Romano was quoted by Teamtalk, as saying, in an interview.

In the same interview, Romano also stated that Liverpool may enter contract talks with Salah next year.

"They know that what Salah said is, 'one day I would like to play in these clubs', (and this) is normal because we’re talking about two major clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, also to change leagues. His agent is negotiating with the club to understand what’s going on for the (new) contract. They are not negotiating right now but, for sure, the concept of Salah will be something they talk about, like in the next year," added Romano.

Salah has been a vital cog of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool since he moved from Roma to Anfield on a $46 million transfer. He has scored 111 competitive goals in 177 matches and has been the club’s leading goal scorer in every season since his debut in the 2017-18 season.

Liverpool are focusing more on other players such as Fabinho and Virgil van Dijk. It was earlier reported that the Anfield side considers Fabinho 'untouchable' as the club is preparing a lucrative new deal for the Brazilian defensive midfielder as a reward for his crucial contributions since his arrival in 2018.

"So we will see, but, for sure, at the moment, Liverpool are really calm about the situation of Salah. They are happy with him and they are concentrating more on other players like Fabinho, Van Dijk, extending their contracts, and then we will see what’s going on with Salah," Romano further said in the interview.

Van Dijk is currently recovering from an ACL injury he had sustained earlier this season. Along with him, Liverpool are also without another center-back Joe Gomez, who is also expected to miss the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.