Jamie Carragher was surely echoing the thoughts of every Liverpool fan during his reaction to Mo Salah burying the match-winning penalty against Southampton this afternoon.
The Reds have gone eight points clear at the top of the Premier League after a hard-fought triumph at St Mary’s, coming from 2-1 down to prevail 3-2 thanks to a second-half brace from the Egyptian King, who’s now up to 10 Premier League goals for the season.
Of course, that also comes amid the ongoing spectre of his contract situation, with just over seven months remaining on his current £350,000-per-week deal at Anfield and no sign of an immediate resolution to the saga.
Carragher calls for new Salah contract
Even when taking into account his glee in his immediate reaction to Salah’s decisive penalty today, Carragher made his views on the 32-year-old’s future very clear to everyone watching the game.
Speaking on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports (15:47), the former Reds defender said: “Mo Salah, he fires the bow – now give him his dough”, with those last four words an obvious plea to the Anfield hierarchy.
Liverpool absolutely MUST keep Salah
By right, sentiment shouldn’t be allowed to enter the thinking when it comes to contract negotiations, but in this instance we’re talking about a player so wonderfully special that an exception to the norm would be not so much justified as recommended.
Salah has never scored fewer than 23 goals in any of his seven full seasons at Liverpool, and he’s already up to 12 for this campaign in all competitions (Transfermarkt), an astonishing consistency which’ll make his departure a bitter pill to swallow when it eventually happens.
Of course we get the business side of questioning whether it’d be wise to commit such vast wages to a player who’s approaching the twilight of his career, but if anyone on the Anfield board is watching what happens on the pitch, they’ll recognise the Egyptian’s priceless value to the Reds.
To us, it’d be unforgivable if this phenomenon of a footballer is allowed to exit on a free transfer next year simply because of a reluctance to pay him what he’s worth.
We beg you, Liverpool – please just get Salah tied down to a new contract soon…
