Mohamed Salah is playing under the impression that it is his “last year at the club,” with talks over a new contract at Liverpool still not progressing.
While there is an expectation that Salah will eventually extend his stay at Liverpool, until there is a breakthrough in talks he must be considered on his way out.
The Egyptian is now free to discuss terms with clubs outside of England ahead of a possible free transfer, though it is claimed that neither he nor Virgil van Dijk intend to do so.
But if the focus is on talks with Liverpool, as it stands those have proved frustration – if Salah is to be believed, of course.
In a new interview with Sky Sports, Salah outlined his No. 1 goal for the season as winning the Premier League for Liverpool, explaining: “It’s my last year in the club, so I want to do something special for the city.”
Asked if he really believed it was his last season at Anfield, the 31-year-old could only laugh – as that is the only eventuality as it stands.
“So far, yeah, it’s the last six months,” he reiterated.
“There is nothing, no progress there, we’re far away from any progress. We just need to wait and see.”
• READ: What Richard Hughes has said on Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold talks
Given his terms are set to expire at the end of the season, it could be argued that his lingering free agency could prove a distraction.
But Salah is taking a different approach.
“I think the thing in my head is like ‘OK, if that’s your last six months or last year, what do you want to see in the future?’,” he reflected.
“Do I want to look back and say ‘I was concerned about the contract’ or stressed, or just want to say ‘OK, I had an unbelievable season’?
“So that’s in my head now. All the time, if I feel like a kind of distraction I just remember like ‘OK, you want to look back and say I had an unbelievable season’. So that’s what I want to do.”
Salah is enjoying an incredible campaign so far, with 20 goals and 17 assists in just 26 games, and recently overtook the legendary Billy Liddell to become Liverpool’s fourth all-time top goalscorer.
Lifting the Premier League again could further cement his status as one of the best players in the history of the club, and he admitted it was a motivation.
“It’s in my head, to be fair, but I always try [to think] ‘OK, if you win that trophy and you make the team win it, you’re probably going to be up there’,” Salah said.
“So hopefully I will make the difference and make the team win that trophy, but whenever I’m going to end my career there’s always going to be discussion.
“People would prefer Stevie G, people would prefer me, people would prefer Kenny Dalglish or whatever they’re going to decide. You can’t control that.
“People will never agree on one player, but to be in that conversation is a great thing, something if I look back at when I came here eight years ago I never dreamed of.
“But then you start to dream and you have that ambition, things change and I’m very proud to be in that conversation.”
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