SIMON JORDAN: Liverpool must treat exceptional Mo Salah differently to anyone else – here's what I would offer him

It was a tad unedifying and frankly unnecessary for the normally reticent Mohamed Salah to suddenly start dropping a few bombshell quotes about his Liverpool future.

Though I’m sure the club’s hierarchy won’t have been impressed by the timing of Salah’s declaration of ‘frustration’, there is often an element of positioning and posturing in football negotiations and I’d be surprised if he didn’t remain at Anfield next season.

Unless he’s being totally unreasonable with wage demands, it looks a no-brainer. He appears to wish to stay and the club will be calculating how much to keep him against the cost of a replacement.

One of the main stumbling blocks seems to be length of contract – it is generally risky for any club to give a player in their 30s more than two years, because there is always a presupposition of decline.

That said, you have to treat each individual case on its merits and exceptional players like Salah deserve exceptional treatment because of their ability and conditioning, even at the age of 32.

With that in mind, there is every reason for Liverpool to find it within the confines of their structure to give him a deal he wants.

Liverpool have always tended to generate a significant proportion of their transfer spending on sales. The best examples, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, were key components of Jurgen Klopp’s Champions League and Premier League winners, and funded by Philippe Coutinho’s £143million move to Barcelona.

The club will be aware of the lack of resale value in offering ageing players bumper new contracts but that may not be the case for Salah, with the Saudi League keen on the Egyptian even when he gets past his best.

While Liverpool aren’t in control of the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation if he fancies Real Madrid, they do have a hand to play with Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who – prima facie – look open to staying.

Should the club believe that those two can continue at a high level medically and performance-wise, I would be signing them on three-year deals – though maybe four is too much of a push.

You only have to ponder the alternatives for Liverpool if they allow Salah to leave at the end of the season for nothing. Even with the significant price tag of satisfying his salary demands, if you can replace the 30-plus goals a season that would be lost if Salah departed, a new signing could cost up to £100m in a transfer fee alone, with a £25m annual depreciation on the balance sheet.

To avoid that circumstance, you might as well give Salah a few million pounds extra if that’s what he´s demanding. You are still ahead financially and have that Saudi exit if Slot decides in two years that he wants to regenerate without his star winger.

Given that Salah is now on Liverpool’s balance sheet at zero value, as his initial transfer fee in 2017 has been written down, then if you receive a transfer fee that will go down as pure profit on the balance sheet.

Sign the ‘new Salah’ now and there is no guarantee he will live up to the billing right away. Liverpool spent a huge amount on Darwin Nunez at centre forward. He was an unknown commodity for the Premier League and it’s taken him time to manifest anything of meaning.

So even if Liverpool factor in the financial ramifications of a record wage packet, and a longer contract than orthodoxy suggests, they know what they are getting with Salah.

Considering how he is playing and his physical robustness – he looks as fit as a flea – he’s more like a top-class 28-year-old than his real age. And the club wouldn’t hesitate to give a player of 28 longer terms.

I once made a clumsy observation about him not being world-class. I have to concede it was an unwise thing to say.

None of this means giving Salah a blank cheque. Liverpool aren’t blind and negotiation doesn’t mean saying yes to every demand. If he wants a million pounds a week because that’s what he’d earn in Saudi – just an example, I am not saying that is what he’s after – a club doesn’t have to agree.

It wasn’t particularly helpful for Salah to create the narrative that his club aren’t doing what they should. If he makes it impossible for them by asking too much, they need to keep order.

Arsenal were criticised a few years ago for letting Aaron Ramsey go on a free. They felt his wage demands were unrealistic, and the fact he wasn’t a success at Juventus or afterwards indicates they were right.

Obviously Salah is on another level but maybe, just maybe, those in positions of authority at football clubs know a little bit more than everyone else.

The powerbrokers at Anfield will look at the implications of everything – that is their job and their duty to protect the club. What would be the costs be of losing Salah. Does Slot think he can rebuild as well without the Egyptian King?

He has already defied conventional wisdom by not signing a single costly new player, and inheriting a team without a murmur of ‘I need players I know and trust’.

It’s hard to make concrete predictions without being in the room as talks continue. But I am suggesting it would seem very strange if Salah doesn’t end up staying. I’m fascinated by what the case could be for him not to.

The two English strikers who top Haaland 

Erling Haaland is a phenomenal goalscorer and one of the key talking points around Sunday’s match of the season between Liverpool and Manchester City.

But is he the best striker we’ve ever seen in the Premier League? I’m not so sure.

I’d say Harry Kane is not only a better footballer than Haaland, I think he would have scored just as many goals for Man City under Pep Guardiola.

If you look at Alan Shearer’s record for Newcastle, a team that didn’t dominate matches or leagues like City, it’s equally as remarkable as Haaland’s achievements.

The Norwegian has benefited from playing in an era when football is geared towards attack and you see far fewer goalless draws than even 20 years ago.

When City hit a bumpy patch, as they are doing, Haaland is affected like anyone else. He’s scored just twice in his last seven league games. 

But none of that means he won’t be the match-winner this weekend. He is a shark in attack and I don’t think anyone seriously believes Guardiola’s team won’t come out of hibernation at some point.

Why Spurs belong in the top six

Eleven English teams have won major trophies since Tottenham last lifted silverware in 2008. 

Yet they are still referred to one of the Premier League’s Big Six and I can see why.

In terms of heritage, global support and having the best sports stadium in the country – if not the world – they are still a marquee club. 

You’d apparently need £3billion plus to buy Spurs and that’s a different level to pretenders like Aston Villa or even Newcastle.

But while Daniel Levy scores an A* for the economic running of his football club, they have been an abject failure in terms of winning things, with just two League Cups in the Premier League era.

Their thumping 4-0 victory at the Etihad last week underlines that they should rather than could win a big prize this season. 

They won’t want to always owe their status as an elite club because of history and what happens in the boardroom rather than on the football pitch.

What Lampard must do this time in the Championship

I thought Frank Lampard was going to be really good manager. As a football operator and communicator, he was excellent.

Personally, I felt he shouldn’t have left Derby County and would have been better establishing himself there for longer. He had one good season at Chelsea but at Everton they probably would have got relegated if he hadn’t been fired.

It appears we’ve gone full circle with Lampard tipped to return to the Championship with Coventry City. I now have reservations he will turn out to be an excellent manager, but maybe he will.

One thing is for sure, he needed to go again to prove himself and taking a job outside the scrutiny of the Premier League is the best way.

Only this time he has to stay the course and distance, not allow himself to be seduced by the first attractive alternative that might flutter its eyelids at him.