‘Big amount of money’: What Fabrizio Romano heard about Liverpool & Vinicius Jr is intriguing
One contract down, and one more to go ahead of the end of a scintillating 2024/25 Premier League campaign for Liverpool.
Mo Salah has agreed on a two-year contract extension to keep him at Anfield until the summer of 2027.
The Egyptian is understood to have shaken hands on a particularly lucrative set of terms, shrugging off interest from the Middle East.
The former Roma and Chelsea hitman certainly deserves his rich rewards in light of another record-breaking season at L4 that has seen him register 32 goals and 22 assists in 45 games (across all competitions).
Saudi were prepared to throw big money at Mo Salah
Richard Hughes may have been in a slightly advantageous position to begin with – Salah made it public that he was keen to stay at Liverpool after all!
That said, it would be remiss of us to overlook our sporting director’s hard work in staving off interest from Saudi Arabia. Not to mention ensuring our Egyptian King got a deal that fell neatly between the player’s demands and FSG’s commitment to sustainability.
Fabrizio Romano intriguingly reported this afternoon that Saudi Pro League sides were ready to offer a package comparable to that presented to Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr.
“But a few months ago – back in October, November, December – there was strong interest from Saudi clubs,” the Italian transfer expert informed The Daily Briefing.
“This was concrete interest, with Saudi Pro League teams prepared to offer big money to Mo Salah.
“I’m told it was not the same package of money offered to Vinicius Junior, but in that region, so a really big amount of money.”
What do the stats say?
At 32 years of age (and being set to turn 33 in June), we can completely understand why the chequebook wasn’t exactly flying out of John W Henry’s pocket.
Liverpool’s owners have always been a little risk averse, opting to consider the future over the sentiments of the present – a far from unreasonable philosophy, it has to be said.
However, the numbers are also in Mo Salah’s favour; 54 goal contributions (and counting) in 2024/25 represent his best return since his debut season (59) in 2017/18.
The No.11 may be getting slower, but his stats are climbing. Sofascore have handed the attacker an average rating of 7.92 in the Premier League this term – his best yet at Liverpool.
| Season | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 | 24/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salah’s average rating | 7.62 | 7.44 | 7.41 | 7.14 | 7.39 | 7.15 | 7.58 | 7.92 |
A loss of pace doesn’t seem to be an issue for a player steadily evolving his craft in the Premier League.
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