Mohamed Salah signs a new contract with Liverpool for three years
Mohamed Salah has signed a new three-year contract with Liverpool.
BBC Sport understands the deal – worth more than £350,000-a-week – makes the 30-year-old the highest-paid player in the club’s history.
The Egyptian striker had only a year left on his previous deal and there were doubts over whether he would stay.
“It’s our best decision and his best decision. I think it belongs to us. This is his team now,” said Reds manager Jurgen Klopp.
“This is a special gift for our fans to enjoy the weekend even more. I’m sure there will be some celebration for this news tonight.”
Salah scored 156 goals in 254 games during the five years he spent at Anfield since his move from Roma.
“I feel good and am excited to win titles with the club,” said the wide player. “It’s a happy day for everyone. We are in a good position to fight for everything.”
Salah won the Champions League, English Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and European Super Cup during his time at Anfield.
He also won or participated in three Premier League Golden Boots and was named PFA Player of the Year twice while with Klopp’s side.
“I have no doubt Mo’s best years are coming. And that says something, because the first five seasons here were from a legend,” Klopp said.
The renewal comes as a huge boost following the departure of fellow striker Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich this summer.
Liverpool won the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup this season, but raced four times until the final week of the season, failing in the Premier League and losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid.
They have recruited Benfica and Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez for £64m to make up for Mane’s loss.
“It takes some time, I think, to renew, but now everything is done, so we just need to focus on what’s next,” said Salah, the former Chelsea striker.
“I think you can see in the last five or six years the team has always been working [upwards]. Last season we were close to winning four, but unfortunately in the last week of the season we lost two titles.
“We have new deals too. We just need to keep working hard, have a good vision, be positive and go all out again.”
Salah’s priority was to stay at Anfield – Analysis
Mandeep Sanghera, BBC Sport
Talks have taken a long time but have accelerated in recent days and a Reds delegation led by new sporting director Julian Ward has traveled to meet Salah on his summer vacation to sign the contract.
Mike Gordon, president of the club’s owner Fenway Sports Group, also played a key role in the negotiations.
Gordon Ward had face-to-face talks with Salah in Miami earlier in the year and these were important conversations as this was when the overall structure of the deal was being discussed.
Salah’s priority was to remain at Liverpool and the club was to keep him as contract areas continued to be settled.
The Egyptian international made it clear that he would not agree to the sale and that his position was to either renew or leave for free at the end of the contract that was canceled and was due to expire in the summer of 2023.
The contract is structured in a way that fits with Liverpool’s current model but also rewards individual performance.
It is mainly based on the reward at the level of goals and goal shares that Salah contributes.
This also maintains another key figure in Liverpool’s success at the club, with manager Jurgen Klopp and his squad in April extending their deals with the club until 2026.