Jurgen Klopp remains relaxed about Mohamed Salah contract negotiations

Daniel Brown

‘Mo is fine, I’m fine. What we all want is clear and things like this take time. That’s it.’

Jürgen Klopp has revealed that he remains relaxed about Mohamed Salah’s contract negotiations, insisting that “what we all want is clear”.

The Egyptian has 18 months left on his current deal and the forward is still in discussions with Liverpool over extending his stay at Anfield.

Salah recently spoke on Egyptian TV channel MBC Masr where he made it clear that he wants to remain on Merseyside, but that it was down to the club to resolve his situation.

“I said it several times, if the decision is up to me, I want to stay in Liverpool,” he said.

“But the decision is in the hands of the management and they have to solve this issue.

Mo Salah on his future: “If the decision is up to me, I want to stay in Liverpool. But the decision is in the hands of the management” 🔴 #LFC

“There is no problem but we have to reach an agreement for the contract. It’s up to Liverool board”, he said to MCB via @livechonews. 🇪🇬 pic.twitter.com/rbtK7nDyoU

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 6, 2021

“There is no problem but we have to reach an agreement for the contract. It’s up to them.

“Your financial value shows how much the club appreciates you and that they are ready to do anything for you to stay, but the decision itself is not based on those financial matters only.

“There are things like the ambition of the team and the coach and what he wants to do with the team and the players he wants. These are all important points when making the decision.”

Barcelona head coach Xavi has reportedly expressed his interest in the frontman, but Klopp has stated that the club are actively talking to Salah’s representatives about a contract extension.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s trip to AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, Klopp said: “We are talking. Extending a contract with a player like Mo is not a thing you do over a cup of tea in the afternoon and find an agreement.

“This is completely normal. There’s really nothing else to say. Mo speaks about it when he gets asked about it. I can say only a few things because the rest is not for the public.

“Mo is fine, I’m fine. What we all want is clear and things like this take time. That’s it.”

Klopp on Salah contract discussions: "We are talking. You don't just meet for a cup of tea in the afternoon and come to an agreement." #LFC #Salah

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) December 6, 2021

It is unclear whether Salah – who is six goals away from breaking the record for the most Champions League goals for one English club (36) – will start for the Reds on Tuesday.

Klopp has joked that he needs to rotate his players in order to avoid retribution from his medical department, suggesting that he is wary of overloading his most-used players ahead of the busy festive period.

“We have to rotate, that’s clear,” Klopp said. “The medical department would smash me if I played the same side again so we will make changes.

“I will not give away the line-up now but I cannot change all the players. We will see if Mo plays or not and if he plays, whether he can score or not, but the players have an understanding of the situation. We want to field the best possible side for the situation we are in.

“We have played five games in 15 days, which is a lot and after the Milan game we have to play pretty much the same number of games in a similar amount of time, so we have to make the right decisions and we will.”

Liverpool have played five matches in the space of 15 days, the most recent of which came at the weekend where Divock Origi scored in added-time to secure a vital win for the Reds.

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