‘He’s gone’ – Harry Redknapp claims Liverpool star has already decided to leave
'He's as good as gone.'
Harry Redknapp believes Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is ‘as good as gone’ and will leave Anfield next summer.
Salah has established himself as one of Liverpool’s best ever players and a Premier League great over the eight seasons, scoring 223 goals in 368 appearances for the Reds.
The Egyptian superstar turned 32 over the summer but shows no signs of slowing down, already contributing 10 goals in 12 Premier League games this season.
While Salah continued to thrive on the pitch, he has been involved in a long and somewhat unbecoming contract dispute off it after entering the final 12 months of his current deal at Anfield.
Last week, Salah admitted he was ‘disappointed’ by Liverpool’s failure to offer him a new contract and said he was more likely to leave the club at the end of the season than extend his stay on Merseyside.
‘We are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club,’ he said. ‘I’m probably more out than in.’
Salah also dismissed suggestions he could retire, leaving a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia the most likely outcome for a player who flopped at Liverpool’s Premier League rivals Chelsea earlier in his career.
Redknapp reckons Salah is ‘as good as gone’ and says a move to Saudi will be ‘hard to turn down’.
‘Even at 32, if you gave him a three-year contract next summer, he isn’t going to suddenly fall off a cliff with his fitness or his play,’ the former Premier League boss told The Sun.
‘But if I were in Arne Slot’s place, as his manager at Anfield, I’d be thinking that Salah is gone after this season, no matter what cryptic messages he puts out to muddy the waters over his future.
‘If he hasn’t signed by now, then to me Salah is gone, despite those comments about the club not coming up with a new offer like he did.
‘Let’s be honest, next summer he could head over to Saudi Arabia and pocket a £100million signing-on fee alone. And that’s without his wages on top. His transfer market worth must be £80-100m.
‘Last summer Liverpool could have got more than that but the move to Saudi’s Pro League didn’t come off — that surprised me.
‘Now of course, in the age of the Bosman free transfer, a lot of what Liverpool would have collected will go Salah’s way.
‘He has a choice. If he is purely football driven, stay at Anfield. But even for someone like him, if clubs are dangling crazy figures in front of you, it becomes difficult to turn down.
‘He could have gone last year but was probably thinking that most of the £100m or even £200m Liverpool would have got for him, will be going his way in 12 months’ time, so he is sitting it out.
‘In some ways if he wins the Premier League title again with Liverpool this season, it seems like a fitting way to go out.
‘You have to be honest and think to yourself that this uncertainty has been dragging on for so long now that it makes things even more certain. That he is leaving.’
Liverpool have enjoyed a sensational first-half of the season, opening up a considerable gap at the top of the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s huge title clash against Manchester City.
The Reds, who appointed Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp’s replacement over the summer, are also top of the new Champions League group phase.
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