13 Jan 2022 08:10:21
Chris Bascombe reporting Salah wants £400k a week.

Is it time to sell and use the money to refresh the squad?

I don’t want to lose him, but we’re short on cash and if it provided funds for say Bellingham and Bowen, I think I’d cash in.

1.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 09:00:13
I'd rather give Salah what he wants and sell Mane or Firmino and get them 2 with some backing by the owners.

2.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 09:09:39
Salah has no interest in staying. Some need to accept that.

{Ed025's Note - so you know him personally OMM?, thats just guessing mate..

3.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 09:10:28
So would I, but I don’t think we can rely on our owners.

4.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 09:30:30
Everyone already knew he would have wanted around that mark, and so he should. You simply don't sell a player as good as Salah willingly, and if Salah goes what would that say about us to the likes of a Bellingham? top clubs don't sell their best players they add to them.

5.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 10:03:21
Spot on, JH.

6.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 09:48:44
Chelsea, Utd and City would likely be in for Bellingham. Therefore that transfer would turn into an auction and we couldn’t compete with the 3 for fee or wages in an auction.

7.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 10:15:32
Unless Bellingham actually WANTED to join us.

8.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 10:19:57
Salah is not as big as the club.

I don’t like him and / or his agent putting forward this line of ‘If only they do what I want I’m more than happy to stay’ routine.

If he isn’t happy he should clear off. When Salah retires LFC will still be here.

9.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 10:31:36
JH that’s what I mean by an auction mate. It wouldn’t matter who Bellingham wanted to join if we were only offering Dortmund half (just using that as a ball park figure) compared to what the other 3 were. In that case Dortmund wouldn’t even accept the offer for us to find out what we wanted.

The richest person / team will always win an auction.

10.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 10:34:33
There is two sides to the Salah argument, a sporting standpoint and a business one.

On the sporting side, we need to keep him at all costs. He is arguably the best player in the world at the minute, and at worst he is in the conversation of whether he is. Huge player for us that lifts the level of the team. From a sporting standpoint and as a fan it is an absoloute no brainer.

However, from a business side, the side we don't like talking about with football but the descion makers have to. You have a player at his peak or very close to it. He is asking for huge sums that on performance are warranted but, they have to decide what the investment will bring them in return.

If he stays, you should be competing for everything and arguably getting a few trophies added to the cabinet. So the prize bonuses and improving of the clubs brand. However, this would be his last lucrative contract, with very little sell on fee in 2-3 years and even smaller if he sees out towards the end of the contract.

The question is, do the trophies/ prizes and improvement of club brand outweigh the transfer fee we would get this year? That will be the analysis that people far smarter then me will be working out.

Personally, I'd keep him, find a bobby replacement (the one we had of a few years back, I know ed025 isn't his biggest fan, but his link up play was integral to our game) and sell mane (love him as a player but still has some value for re-investment, and we can't have an entire front three aging at the same rate, we need some form of succession plan) .

11.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 11:01:59
We should keep Mo as the indications are he will be physically good enough for another 3/ 5 years at least.

We need to retain him and refresh the squad in the summer.

In the ideal world we get Mo to sign up for another 4 years and we get Bellingham in the summer and Jurgen and is coaching team sign contract extensions.

Naby Ox Divock and Millie move on… though I would give Millie a one year extension in a heartbeat and maybe we sell Sadio and bring in Bowen or someone else.

12.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 11:06:56
Spot on WYred how much would it cost us to buy the world's 2nd best player because that's what we'd have to do if we sold Salah to replace his goals and assists. The man is pure class works extremely hard for the team he's irreplaceable imo. Sure I love Bobby and Sadio but if I had a choice I like you would sell the other 2 and hope to get someone younger in their place and keep Mo at all costs brother.

13.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 11:15:44
Yeh West Derby let them all clear off if they are not happy playing for far less than they are worth (compared to what players of similar stature earn) let Virg, Robbo, Trent all clear off. How dare they want to earn as much as their positional equivolants at other clubs because trust me it won't be long before the likes of Diaz are on far more than Virg, Varane apparently already is.

14.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 12:07:40
Virgil and Trent signed new deals just last summer, Jadon, so they're obviously not too unhappy with Raphael Varane (or whomever) being paid more than them. Although outside of Man City, I do wonder what right full backs in the PL are being paid more than TAA's reported £180k per week.

Salah's problem is that there's not many places for him to go to get £400k a week. And I think that's why the club are willing to engage in brinksmanship with him. I can only see PSG coming in for him with that amount if they lose Mbappe, now that Barcelona have imploded (have they registered Ferran Torres yet? ) and RM looking at other options. Maybe if RM miss Mbappe and any alternate targets they have, they might come in either.

If reports are to be believed, £400k a week would make Salah the highest paid player at pretty much any other club apart from Utd who are paying Ronaldo more than that. He'd be joint highest with de Bruyne at City.

Then again if it goes right to the wall next summer, a lot can happen in 18 months.

15.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 12:21:07
Forget Salah, all this is pointing to FSG needing to sell Liverpool. We can’t compete financially anymore with these owners.
When you think Long term, they’re probably looking at selling, when the stadium is complete I think we will see a New Ownership being looked at defo. I Can’t see another way they continue long term. Everything points to a sale.

16.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 12:33:44
I'm curious as to who anyone on here thinks is going to buy the Liverpool, and would be substantially different from FSG.

There's a finite number of state backed investment funds who will pour billions into a club for sportwashing and I'd rather not have them anyway.

17.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 12:39:19
Virg, Trent were examples Something! i mean that we have to be willing to pay the top players we have the going rate or else gradually as a fanbase get used to not having such top players anymore. We've done brilliantly to build such a good squad without spending a lot more than we've recieved through sales but you can't keep hitting the jackpot.

18.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 12:44:10
LiverpoolFC8, and you gathered all that from what the OP posted?

19.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 13:25:41
Lfc8. I can't see them selling until the super league happens, in whatever form it is. That would be clubs value at a max (for forseeable future) I would think.

20.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 14:23:43
One thing I keep seeing on these Salah discussion is either pay him or sell him and it is purely the owners fault etc. Has anyone actually considered that the club can't afford what he is asking? Salaries fall into FFP I believe and if we go by what Ed002 says, the club is already stretched financially living 'hand to mouth'. Who is to say the club can afford to meet Salah's demands and comply with FFP. Would you all be happy if the club met his demands, signed him up and then turned around and said in order to comply with FFP, we have to sell Mane to get him off the books and there is no money for a replacement?
All hypothetical of course, but it isn't always a case of pay or not, there are so many variables at play in the business.

21.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 14:47:48
Bellingham and bowen through the sale of salah? How much do you think he's going to generate? . Mo is the best player in world and you want a young kid from a rubbish German league and bowen to impact the club as much as salah does? I'd take take both Bellingham and 100% bowen but not if we have to get rid of mo to generate the cash flow. If mo goes we are screwed upfront. Mane and bobby should go first. Clear thiago out. Give half his wages to salah.

22.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 15:11:55
I think the talk of selling Salah for £10+ for some kind of rebuild is just not living in the real world, who is going to pay more than £60m for a 30 year old in the last year of his contract? Any club wanting to buy him will be kicking tyres and low balling us. And if we do sell, what then? Who are we going to find who can score 20+ goals and provide around 10 assists every year for the peanuts we can afford.
Players like Salah don’t come a dime a dozen and given our budgetary restrictions we’re not in with a shout for those players who are capable of replicating that kind of form, personally I’d pay the man close to what he wants and be done with it. He’s in physically good shape and he’s one of the genuinely few world class players around and looks good to still be doing his thing for another 4 years.

23.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 16:03:58
100% agree with that Victor. Good luck with a "rebuild" outa the Salah money.

24.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 16:10:24
*meant £100m+.

25.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 16:20:06
Ronaldo was 33 when Juve paid £100m for him and real offered £140m or something for Mbappe with 6 months remaining, albeit Ronaldo did have 3 years remaining on his contract and Mbappe is a lot younger, but you get my point. Clubs are willing to spend big on world class players. I don't think Salah's age or contract length would have a major bearing on his price. The obstacle I see to getting a high fee for him is no one wants him. Real want Mbappe/ Haaland, Barcelona are in tatters and PSG are trying to tie Mbappe down to a contract. As Ed002 has said, his agent tried getting him a big move a while back, I think that ship has sailed and he is desperate to get his bumper pay packet at all costs.
Is anybody really fooled that Salah loves Liverpool and would do anything to stay? Look at Messi, the man who was Barcelona through and through. For years he single handedly crippled the club he 'loved' financially. How long will Salah be the best in the world? No one knows that answer as we don't have a crystal ball. But commit to his demands now and when he retires in X years, where does the money come from to replace him then?

26.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 16:43:10
Stuie, Barcelona was being run by people who thought they had monopoly money and had zero care for the club or where the money came from, Messi earned Barcelona much more than he ever took from them, Salah has another 4/ 5 years left at the top easy, we aren't replacing a striker, we are replacing a rw, that's crazy for those numbers to come from him, he has done more than enough for Liverpool to earn what he is asking for, the problem isn't Salah and his demands, it's the people who don't want to pay him, they pay just as big a contract in the US, we have 2/ 3 high earners who could leave to pay for Salah's wage.

27.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 17:09:41
Them 2/ 3 high earners leave to cover Mo's wages and there'll be whining on here about squad dept.

28.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 17:17:11
Stuie we also live in a world where clubs like Villa are demanding £100m for Grealish so god knows what a decent replacemebt would cost. I personally doubt we will get £100m for Mo, clubs would know that if he hasn't signed on by the summer tben he's not signing at all and they would also know there's not a hope in hell the owners would let Mo leave for free so we would end up with a last week of the window bargain basement move for the worlds best player.

29.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 19:10:05
Or, and again I'm playing devil's advocate, he doesn't want to stay. He's a very clever fella and knows if he fires out a few "I really want to stay" or "I really love the club with all my heart" quotes that fans will lap it up and not question him. Football politics. I'd love nothing better than being wrong but I reckon he wants away, he's came to the Premier league and proven himself. That's what he said he in one of his first interviews after signing. Hopefully as I say I'm wrong.

30.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 19:27:51
All valid points and I do agree to a point. But again, no one can say for certain he will be this good for 4 years, that's purely an assumption. You can't compare US sports with football, completely different entities entirely. Liverpool are restricted as to what they can outlay without recouping the money, and that includes salaries. I'm not saying sell Salah, I'm just trying to put another perspective across that people probably shouldn't be too hard on the owners. There are two sides to every story and unfortunately, I don't think the owners will be doing a GQ magazine interview on Salah's contract any time soon.

31.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 21:17:13
I think Madrid offered €140m just before the last year and offered €40m this window. Mpappe has age on his side, Salah doesn't I’m afraid.

32.) 13 Jan 2022
13 Jan 2022 22:18:47
@JH, the point I was making is that if Salah, like Coutinho and Suarez before him is motivated by money then so be it. We are constrained in terms of what we can afford and if we can’t afford his demands then he has to leave - that’s business and it’s fair enough. It has happened before it will happen again.

What I don’t like is the ‘I’m not asking for anything outrageous” - just more money than the club can afford and new players that we can’t afford, and the line ‘I would like to stay here until I retire’ / ‘I love the fans’ of course they all do it @and again it’s part of the business these days but it’s blatantly so d false it makes my stomach turn. I don’t know the fella as I’ve never met him so he might be a decent, salt of the earth type but his comments aren’t doing him any favours imho.

33.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 07:24:19
Tommy Gunn, why would you give Milner another year extension? He has done nothing this season to warrant a contract extension. Last night’s game showed just validated it. He is too old, has no pace and younger opposition players constantly outpace him. He had been a great servant to the club but time to get rid.