Mohamed Salah’s Historic Season Proves Liverpool Must Prioritize His Contract Extension

Mohamed Salah delivered a timely reminder of why Liverpool needs to resolve his contract situation, becoming the first player in Europe’s top five leagues this season to hit double figures for both goals and assists across all competitions.

Mohamed Salah’s Unstoppable Form at Liverpool

In recent years, it’s become almost standard football terminology when discussing statistics. It’s rare to mention any attacking metric without starting with: “Only Mohamed Salah…”

Since joining Liverpool in 2017, the Egyptian has been nothing short of sensational, scoring and assisting in ways that have propelled the Reds to domestic and international success.

And he’s still going strong. Just last week, Salah scored in Liverpool’s 2-1 comeback victory over Brighton, netting his 164th Premier League goal, which saw him surpass former Kop legend Robbie Fowler and climb to eighth place on the league’s all-time scoring list.

Then, with an assist and his 165th goal in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, Salah became the first player in Europe’s top five leagues this season to hit double figures for both goals (10) and assists (10) across all competitions, achieving this feat in just 17 matches.

The following day, Salah was joined on that particular milestone by his fellow Egyptian and Eintracht Frankfurt star, Omar Marmoush, which led to the familiar phrase: “Only Mohamed Salah has also reached double figures for both goals and assists in all competitions this season.”

Liverpool, under new manager Arne Slot, have started the post-Jürgen Klopp era in spectacular fashion, winning nine of their first 11 Premier League games. They’ve also advanced to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup and lead the inaugural league phase of the UEFA Champions League, remaining the only team with a perfect record of four wins from four.

As expected, Salah has been a key player in this early success, helping Liverpool extend their lead to five points at the top of the Premier League following their win over Aston Villa. The Opta supercomputer now favors them to win the title.

Liverpool have only accumulated more points after 11 games in a Premier League season once before, in 2019-20 (31 points – W10 D1), when they clinched the league title.

Against Unai Emery’s Villa, Salah’s assist for Darwin Núñez’s opening goal wasn’t entirely intentional. Salah was attempting to go through on goal before being fouled by Leon Bailey, allowing Núñez to capitalize on the loose ball and score. However, it was Salah’s quick thinking and sprint down the field on the counter-attack, following a Villa corner, that set the play in motion.

His goal late in the game to seal the victory was quintessential Salah. After intercepting Diego Carlos’ pass on the halfway line, he surged forward, composed himself, and slotted the ball past Yashin Trophy winner Emiliano Martínez.

This marked the 35th time Salah has both scored and assisted in a Premier League match, putting him just one behind Wayne Rooney (36) for the most such performances in the competition’s history.

It was another impressive display from the 32-year-old, following his pair of assists in Liverpool’s 4-0 Champions League triumph over German champions Bayer Leverkusen last Tuesday.

Salah’s achievement of reaching double figures for both goals and assists in just 17 appearances makes him the fastest player to do so for Liverpool in the last 40 seasons. The next quickest is Luis Suárez, who reached the same milestone in 23 matches during the 2013-14 season.

To slightly shift the “only Mo Salah” narrative, only Harry Kane (24), Omar Marmoush (24), and Robert Lewandowski (21) have more goal involvements than Salah in all competitions this season among players in Europe’s top five leagues.

This marks the fourth consecutive season Salah has reached double figures for both goals and assists, and he’s currently on his best pace ever for goal involvements per 90 minutes since joining Liverpool over seven years ago.

With 20 goal contributions in just 1,347 minutes, Salah is averaging a goal or an assist every 67.5 minutes across all competitions this season. In his sensational debut campaign at the club in 2017-18, where he netted 44 goals and registered 14 assists, he averaged an involvement every 71 minutes.

Salah’s Current Form and Impact

Salah has always been a prolific goal scorer, and his ability to create top-tier chances has also been a constant throughout his career. He has reached double figures for assists in every season at Liverpool except for 2020-21, where he recorded just six. This season, he appears set to surpass his highest assist tally for the Reds, needing only seven more to break his previous record of 16 assists from the 2022-23 campaign.

He and Omar Marmoush are the only players in Europe’s top five leagues this season with double digits for assists across all competitions, while only seven players have created more chances from open play than Salah (30).

Once again, he has been Liverpool’s standout performer this season. In comparison to his teammates, Salah has nearly twice as many goal involvements as the next closest player, Luis Díaz (11), and has created at least nine more chances from open play than anyone else, with Cody Gakpo next at 21. His 30 chances created is 12 more than Liverpool’s usual playmaker, Trent Alexander-Arnold (18).

Salah has been involved in 100 open-play, shot-ending attacking sequences in all competitions, at least 24 more than any other Liverpool player. These sequences consist of shots, chances created, and contributions to the buildup of a shot.

Given all this, there is little doubt that Salah is still performing at, or near, his peak, which makes his contract situation even more concerning for Liverpool fans, with his current deal set to expire at the end of the season.

It’s perhaps understandable why the club wasn’t in a rush to offer him a lucrative new contract during the summer. Salah’s form was as disappointing as anyone’s during Liverpool’s fading title challenge in 2023-24.

Between New Year’s Day and the home match against Manchester City on March 10, Salah featured only once in the Premier League. From his return until the end of the season, he contributed just three goal involvements in 11 league appearances, with a penalty in the 2-2 draw at Manchester United and a goal and an assist in the 4-2 win over Tottenham, by which point the league title was already out of reach.

However, if there were any lingering doubts about Salah’s form, how he fits into Slot’s system, or whether he is still worth the significant financial commitment required to extend his contract, those doubts should now be put to rest.

Last season, Salah faced some criticism for staying too wide. Comparing his touch-zone maps from last season and this one under Slot, it’s clear that, if anything, he is now drifting even more centrally.

He is, however, increasingly finding himself in that crucial space on the right side of the penalty area more frequently, and that is where he excels, as demonstrated by his goal involvement map.

Liverpool’s Contract Talks with Key Players

Reports indicate that Liverpool are in discussions with Salah, as well as Virgil van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, all of whose contracts expire next summer. The Egyptian’s bargaining power has undoubtedly been bolstered in recent weeks, leading to a fan at Saturday’s game holding up a sign that read: “He fires a bow. Now give Mo his dough,” a reference to his bow-and-arrow goal celebration.

Salah’s productivity since joining Liverpool has been extraordinary. He has scored 221 goals and provided 97 assists in 366 appearances for the club, never registering fewer than 23 goals in a season.

How long can he maintain this level of performance? It’s impossible to say, but if any player has earned the benefit of the doubt, it’s certainly Salah. Liverpool fans undoubtedly hope the Egyptian King will continue to dominate for many years to come.

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