June is coming up, and it’s coming up fast. By that time, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League will be over and we will see if Liverpool will somehow manage to win the quadruple. But June is also a very important month for the Reds, because it will be just 365 days before their best player Mohamed Salah is a free agent, and that scenario nobody wants to see: not the player, nor the fans or the club. But, as the things stand now, it will be a long and stresfull offseason for Liverpool. Contract negotiations have not started, but the first offer was made and it was flat refused by the player and his agent.Egypt makes a step towards Qatar as goals prove hard to find once more in an AFCON final rematchThe African has frequently stressed it is not about the money but the rumor has it that the Premier League’s current leading scorer is looking for an improved contract in excess of 400,000-USD-a-week. Both sides are saying the same thing: it’s not up to them but to the other side. And former Liverpool player El Hadji Diouf urged the Reds to accept Salah’s demands and extend the deal. A controversial Senegalese, who made 80 appearances and scored six goals for the Reds between 2002 and 2005 also had a (strange) message for the Egyptian – you will never be paid top dollars, because you are an African.”It is obvious that Liverpool must accept Salah’s demands. He must stay at Liverpool. He can earn more money, he is the best player at the club with Sadio Mane and together they will win many titles. He is 30 years old and will reach that age in June and I ask him to play four more with the Reds. A move to Real Madrid would mean starting again. Salah has to understand that he is African and they will never treat him like the Europeans. They will never give him the best contract, like others. The same thing happened to me when I was at Liverpool. They told me not to represent my national team” said Diouf.(1.95) SENEGAL (3.20) EGYPT (4.40)On the other hand, former Liverpool striker Michael Owen thinks that clubs, including his former, can’t give players all they want, because it would cause a chain reaction and eventually a wage structure breakdown. It is also funny that the former Real Madrid player doesn’t think that Salah would go to the Spanish giants, but only sees Manchester City as an alternative for the Egyptian.”You can’t give players what they want. The whole game would be a disaster if that was the case. Then the whole structure they’ve built so well over the years would fall apart. I’d be very surprised if Salah didn’t sign with Liverpool. What are the options at the moment? You are only going either sideways to Manchester City or down anywhere else because there is no one else as good as these two teams in the world at the moment” the former forward told BBC Sport recently.
