‘Liverpool should not bow to the strain of Salah’s contract – no participant is larger than the membership’

It’s an opinion that will be as popular as a rendition of the national anthem on Merseyside.

But Liverpool should not bow to the pressure of keeping Mohamed Salah, and allow him to leave instead. No one player is bigger than a club.

Not even someone like Salah, who has made an immeasurable contribution to Liverpool’s recent history. Liverpool supporters are amongst the most knowledgeable on the planet when it comes to football. They are also the most emotional.

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah ‘more out than in’ at Liverpool as star drops contract bombshell

READ MORE: Three things Arne Slot got right and two he got wrong during Southampton scare

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And those fans are now using Salah’s trademark goal celebration to make public their demands that the ‘Egyptian King’ must not be allowed to leave Anfield.

“He Fires A Bow. Now Give Mo His Dough,” reads the banner that is being brandished at games home and away. Salah is out of contract at the end of this season.

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And he’s thrown a hand grenade into the stand-off between himself and his club, by revealing he’s not been offered a new deal. If this doesn’t change before the start of 2025, Salah can start talking to rival clubs.

And the man himself admits, as things stand, “he’s more out than in”. But the panic now sweeping through millions of Liverpool fans around the world will not be shared by Salah.

He can’t lose. He either goes on to get a lucrative new deal at the age of 32, or he leaves and secures a contract elsewhere, complete with eye-watering signing on fee.

In the meantime, Salah’s continued brilliance on the pitch is continuing to increase the heat on the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, to do the popular thing instead of the sensible one.

Salah’s 12 goals this season are the main reason Arne Slot’s side now have a commanding eight point lead at the top of the Premier League table. While Salah remains a world class performer, still at the top of his game and more than capable of achieving success.

The longer this scenario continues without a solution, the louder the noise from the stands will become. But FSG have to remain true to their beliefs when it comes to their well-publicised ‘Moneyball’ strategy.

An approach which doesn’t include long and expensive deals for players in their 30s. Some sources claim Salah wants a deal in the region of £1m-a-week.

But he will be 33 before the start of next season, and like it or not, unlike Trent Alexander-Arnold, is not part of the long-term future under Slot. Slot succeeded Jurgen Klopp last summer and was handed the task of building on the German’s legacy.

Winning more league titles than the one Klopp managed. Turning Liverpool into serial winners like Manchester City have been. This will take time, despite City’s astonishing demise in recent weeks.

And however many times Salah wants to remove his shirt to remind people how ripped he still is, time is something he simply doesn’t have on his side. Football remains a business – and handing Salah a new deal makes little sense.

FSG have to take the emotion out of the equation, and have skin thick enough to cope with being unpopular for a spell. Salah, meanwhile, should be focusing on helping Liverpool win only their second title in more than three decades, instead of stirring the pot.

Helping Liverpool give him that fairy tale finish. Then he can do what most players his age do, and waltz off to Saudi Arabia to pocket a pension most people can only dream about.