Jamie Carragher has pointed to one crucial reason which he thinks will ultimately persuade Mo Salah to sign a contract extension at Liverpool.
The 32-year-old has just over eight months remaining on his current £350,000-per-week deal at Anfield, which has inevitably prompted myriad speculation about his future.
However, the Egyptian is continuing to produce the goods on Merseyside, with his penalty in today’s win over Chelsea taking him to 162 Premier League goals, level with Jermain Defoe in ninth on the all-time list. He’s 13 behind Thierry Henry in seventh and 15 adrift of sixth-placed Frank Lampard (Sky Sports).
Carragher thinks Salah will stay at Liverpool next season
Speaking on Sky Sports after the match at Anfield this evening, Carragher looked at the all-time numbers and claimed that Salah’s insatiable desire to climb even higher up that list will be enough of an incentive to keep him at Liverpool beyond this season.
The former Reds defender said: “He’ll have an eye on Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard by the end of this season, I would imagine, and I think stats like this are one of the biggest reasons why Mo Salah will sign a new contract at Liverpool.
“Of course they’ll be talking about money and length of contract, but I think these are the things that really get the juices flowing for Mo Salah. He breaks all the records at Liverpool, and getting as far as he can up those lists, I think that’s a big part of his focus as a player.”
Salah’s goal numbers are just phenomenal
Salah’s consistency as a goalscorer is nothing short of incredible, with the Egyptian making it seven for the season today and taking his overall Liverpool tally to 218, now just 10 behind Billy Liddell in fourth on the all-time list (lfchistory.net).
He’s never scored fewer than 23 in all competitions in a single season at Anfield, and he’s already roughly a third of the way to hitting that mark for the current campaign before we reach the quarterway mark.
It goes without saying that he’ll need to steer clear of any major injuries if he’s to realistically catch Henry and Lampard in the Premier League list by the end of May, but thankfully he’s rarely been missing for any great length of time on Merseyside.
Here’s hoping Carragher is right when he claims that Salah’s appetite to make further history at Liverpool will eventually prove the decisive factor in the ongoing contract dilemma.
