Ben Jacobs shares the current ‘feeling’ around Mo Salah’s future at Liverpool

The current expectation is that Mo Salah will stay for at least another season at Liverpool.

That is, of course, reliant on a new manager and the club’s rejigged executive branch being aligned over the Egyptian’s future.

“With Salah, the feeling was always that he’d do one more season at Liverpool, which is bad news for the Saudis this summer, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be patient and wait until summer 2025,”  Ben Jacobs spoke on CaughtOffside’s The Debrief podcast.

“Now with a new manager incoming, will that change the Salah perspective? Will he relish the opportunity of helping kick off a new era at Liverpool or is it the best time to draw a line under it?

“Liverpool are in a win-win position in many ways because the same financial offer, give or take, will be there from the Saudis. It’s just likely that the club will be Al-Hilal and not Al-Ittihad. If Liverpool take it, they give themselves a big financial advantage moving into the summer in order to get a replacement.

“That’s where, for example, a player like Pedro Neto might be considered at £70m or £80m. If Salah stays, it’s Liverpool preference. It’s great from a transitional point of view, they’ve got more time to find a long-term replacement and he’s a positive influence in the dressing room and he can make it 20+ goals in eight consecutive seasons.

“I think Liverpool are either going to be able to cash in or they’re going to have a better transition under a new manager. Which one of those routes is taken will first depend on who the new manager is and then Salah having that conversation with Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards. This is why Liverpool wanted their hierarchy, their sporting director, their CEO of Football, all in now because then everybody can try and focus on winning the Premier League and bring three trophies in Klopp’s final season if possible.

“But you also have a slightly comparative quieter end of March and early April where new figures can have these conversations so there’s no surprises. I think that the time we get into mid or late April, even if it’s not public, because of how Liverpool work, they’ll know exactly where they stand with the likes of Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.”

Saudi interest in the 31-year-old wide man is expected to return with a vengeance in the upcoming summer window.

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