Jamie Carragher on Mohamed Salah sending FSG message with strange timing of Real Madrid talk

Blood Red: Blood Red: Jurgen Klopp asks why anyone would want to leave Liverpool after question over Mohamed Salah’s future *EMBARGOED UNTIL 10.30PM ON 25.12.20

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Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool star Mohamed Salah was “sending a message” to FSG in a recent interview where he commented on a future away from Anfield.

The Reds legend said part of the reason he thinks the world-class attacker spoke out was because he wants “a lucrative new deal” with the Premier League champions.

Salah conducted an interview with Spanish newspaper AS last weekend in which he addressed the possibility of leaving Anfield for a move to Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Since then, despite Salah admitting in the same interview that he wants to “break every record at the club” having moved ahead of Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s top European goalscorer, speculation has been rife that the forward could be looking to leave the club.

“Some players became brand names,” Carragher wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

“And the savviest fans know transfer rumours around them do not come out of thin air.

“As we saw last weekend when Salah spoke to a prominent Spanish newspaper, they become part of the news agenda because someone, whether it is an advisor or the player himself, wants it to.

“You don’t do an interview with a newspaper close to Real Madrid unless you want to be asked about playing for Real Madrid.

“Naturally, that makes fans suspicious that a player is following a predetermined career path, and supporters at a club such as Liverpool are never going to welcome their team being spoken about as a stepping stone.

“It’s not that big a deal, but when there are so many brilliant players sharing a dressing room it can distinguish a player in popularity polls from those who might be equally coveted, but do not so publicly crave those transfer links.

“It’s not fair to see Salah as alone in this. But maybe he or those around him have occasionally made it a bit too obvious they want to be associated with the Spanish teams.

“Salah’s recent interview feeds that idea his career comes first. His comments about being upset not to be made captain in a dead rubber against Midtjylland underlined it. They were odd. I – like most fans – did not think he should be playing in an inconsequential game, never mind be the skipper.

“The timing of the player initiating transfer stories is also strange. My view is it was a message to Liverpool’s owners to offer him a lucrative new deal.

“Seeing their players being courted by the La Liga clubs would have concerned Liverpool five years ago. Not now. I am not convinced Madrid and Barca can afford Salah. Investing well in excess of £125 million on a player who will turn 29 this summer is not good business.

“Liverpool are in a different place in 2020 to when Suarez, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso moved from Anfield to Spain.

“They left for footballing reasons. No-one leaving Liverpool today can say they will improve their chances of winning trophies. Philippe Coutinho’s experience at the Nou Camp tells us that.

“Liverpool can dominate in England and Europe – or certainly challenge for the Premier League and Champions League – every season Klopp is in charge.

“Fitness permitting, Salah is guaranteed to score over 200 goals and continue to break records if he stays on Merseyside for his prime years.”