‘I think he will stay’ – David James backs one Liverpool stalwart to agree a contract extension
David James is confident that one Liverpool player whose contract expires next summer will agree a new deal at Anfield in the near future.
Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are all set to become free agents in nine months’ time as things stand, although the former Reds goalkeeper has backed the Egyptian in particular to extend his stay at the club.
As per Daily Star, the 54-year-old hit out at the forward’s agent Ramy Abbas Issa after he took to social media last week to bemoan inaccurate reporting over his client’s contractual situation.
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James said in response: “I think if Mo Salah wanted out of Liverpool, or he had his head turned by the other opportunities that are available to him, and there will be plenty, then I don’t think you see a version of Mo Salah that we’ve seen so far this season.
“We know that he can earn huge sums of money by moving elsewhere. Respectively, he could take a move to one of those places and not have to produce the standard of performance that he does for Liverpool.
“What Mo’s doing, it looks like he could produce a season that could be his best at Liverpool. That’s why I think he will stay. He’s not slowing down; he’s going through the gears.”
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We fully agree with James when he points out that Salah’s performances since the start of the season aren’t those of a player who’s desperate to leave Liverpool, with the Egyptian scoring in each of our first three Premier League games under Arne Slot.
We know that Al-Ittihad came in with a £150m offer last year, and we can safely state that that the player won’t be short of suitors hoping to pounce on the contractual uncertainty at Anfield, but none of that appears to have knocked a breeze out of the 32-year-old.
If our number 11 is eager to remain with the Reds beyond next summer, he’s going the right way about applying pressure on the club’s hierarchy to come to the table with a contract offer. To not do so when he’s in such flying form and has been so prolific for LFC would be incomprehensible.
Until such time that Salah’s future is sorted, the discourse will inevitably continue. It’s been just under three weeks now since the transfer window shut, so we’d like to think that Richard Hughes is in the process of persuading him, Trent and Van Dijk to prolong their respective stays at Liverpool.
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