Liverpool reportedly had a bit more financial leeway to meet Mohamed Salah’s contract demands because of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s imminent departure from Anfield.
It’s been a hectic few months for the Reds, with both Salah and Alexander-Arnold coming towards the ends of their contracts, along with Virgil van Dijk.
It’s now been officially confirmed that Salah has signed a new deal, however, in a major boost for the Merseyside giants.
According to BBC Sport, the Egypt international is not taking a pay cut to stay at Liverpool, and is set to pocket almost as much as £400,000 per week.
The report notes that Alexander-Arnold’s expected exit on a free transfer to Real Madrid was actually helpful in this regard as it gave the club more money to work with.
Mohamed Salah’s new deal a silver lining from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure?
Although it will be a huge blow to lose Alexander-Arnold on a free, it seems likely that he would have also required huge wages to stay at the club.
It’s not clear if LFC definitely couldn’t have afforded to keep all three of these key players, but knowing that the England right-back’s wages would soon be off their bill seems to have made a difference.
BBC Sport also make it clear, however, that money was not a key factor for Salah, who could have earned a total of £500m if he’d moved to Saudi Arabia.
Instead, Salah was supposedly keen to carry on competing at the very highest level for a bit longer.
The 32-year-old is clearly still one of the very finest players in the world, having scored 32 goals and contributed 22 assists for Liverpool in all competitions so far this season.
Like other modern greats such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, it looks like Salah clearly has it in him to keep on playing at the very top even into his mid or late 30s.
