James Pearce has claimed that he would be offering Mo Salah a contract of £300,000-a-week if were in Liverpool’s position.
The Egyptian’s contract is set to run out in the summer of 2023, with the club yet to make a breakthrough in negotiations.
“I’ve never agreed with this ‘pay him whatever he wants’, you can’t run a business like that and you certainly can’t run a football club like it,” the Athletic journalist spoke on The Red Agenda podcast.
“You give Salah exactly what he wants and you can guarantee there’ll be a list of agents and players waiting outside Michael Edwards and Julian Ward’s offices at Kirkby wanting to renegotiate themselves.
“I think it’s a delicate balancing act. It goes without saying that you have to be offering him… I’d certainly be offering him £300,000-a-week.
“When you look at some of the figures bandied around the Premier League, I think that would be as high as I would personally go if I were in Liverpool’s position.
“I think that’s stretching your wage structure without going to ridiculous levels and I think that also puts him in that higher echelon, not out on his own by any stretch of the imagination when you look at De Bruyne, who I think is over £350,000-£360,000-a-week, I think Grealish is on £300,000.”
Following the attacker’s agent’s online reaction to Jurgen Klopp’s comments on the matter, it would seem that the Reds and the 29-year-old are quite a way off from finding a suitable middle ground in talks.
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Given a salary that at least gets the No.11 close to the league’s highest earners (of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Co.) would certainly be a more than fair compromise on our part whilst also adhering to the wage structure we’ve favoured thus far.
Ultimately, Salah has provided every justification for keeping him in Merseyside with his stellar performances this term, though the club can’t be expected to cave in to his demands and sacrifice a way of operating that has proved highly successful.
We’d be devastated to see our top goalscorer part ways in this summer or the next, of course, but there remains hope of a potential breakthrough whilst most of our European rivals look far off the bar we’ve set under the Klopp regime.
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I wouldn’t give him a bean, and would move him on in the summer. He is on double what Mane and Robertson earn, at most, bring his salary level with Vin Dijk.
If he doesn’t accept it, then move him on in the summer, while the club can still make money from him. I doubt anyone will pay him the money he is asking for, unless they get him on a free when his contract runs out.
There is a rise in mercenaries pushing for higher wages. Let PSG, Man Utd and Man City have them. Liverpool will do just fine without them.
The problem is exactly what u revealed.. when a nobody like Grealish goes to City right off the bat on 300k it is logical for Salah to demand more!! He can justify being at least on a par with DeBruyne! Problem is we can’t afford even one player at such salary level.
Mo Salah is good but games have been won without him. no one is indispensable.