Mohamed Salah signs new two-year deal with Liverpool

LIVERPOOL – Mohamed Salah ended months of speculation by signing a new two-year contract with English Premier League leaders Liverpool on April 11.

Salah has scored 243 goals in 394 appearances for the Reds since joining from AS Roma in 2017, making him the club’s third-highest goalscorer of all time.

The 32-year-old’s form has been instrumental to Liverpool’s charge towards a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title this season.

“Of course I’m very excited. We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team,” Salah said in a club statement.

“But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies. It’s great, I had my best years here. I played eight years, hopefully it’s going to be 10.”

He paid tribute to the club’s fans, and pledged to keep working hard to bring them results, saying: “Keep supporting us and we’ll give it our best and, hopefully, in the future we’re going to win more trophies.”

Salah has netted 27 goals and provided 17 assists in the Premier League to help Liverpool amass an 11-point lead with just seven games remaining in Arne Slot’s first season as manager.

“He has shown at this club for so many years in a row how much of a value he is for the club and the team,” said Slot.

“As like all our fans and his teammates, we are very happy that he has extended for two more years. Hopefully, he can show on Sunday again (against West Ham United) how important he has been for us all season.”

Salah helped fire Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2019 and a first league title for 30 years in the 2019-20 season.

He has also won the FA Cup, two League Cups, Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup to go down as one of the best players in the Premier League era.

He has been crowned Player of the Year twice by his fellow professionals and football writers, and is almost certain to pick up both prizes for a third time in 2025.

Liverpool’s charge to the top of the Premier League table has come despite the distraction over contract negotiations for three of their star players.

Captain Virgil van Dijk and right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold are also out of contract at the end of the campaign.

Van Dijk, 33, has said there “has been progress” on extending his deal, but Alexander-Arnold, 26, is reportedly close to joining Real Madrid on a free transfer.

Salah had stoked the speculation in a series of post-match interviews where he expressed his frustration at the speed of negotiations, saying he was “probably more out than in”.

However, the Egypt forward has committed his future to the club despite rumours he had been offered a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League.

Another two more years on Merseyside will give Salah the opportunity to further write his name into the record books.

He is joint-fifth in the all-time standings for EPL goals on 184 and 103 behind Ian Rush’s record 346 for Liverpool. AFP