As Liverpool head into another Champions League battle against Real Madrid, all the questions centre around Mo Salah’s contract comments…
I WAS GOING to write about Madrid, to be honest.
These things are usually settled a day or two before they come out and involve a conversation between emailer and editor. I usually send over three ideas and ask which they’d prefer to run, but that’s only when topics are either light on the ground (July) or already done by other people better than me (Coote). This week’s was simple enough.
There’ll be enough content about Southampton (though I could bang on about Michael Oliver being a myopic loon) but since we play the Fat Elvis of world football on Wednesday …well, something about the self-proclaimed Galaticos is more or less a tap-in.
Easy too, as I can’t abide Madrid. I hate everything about them. The whole t-shirt thing they make before they’ve won something, the corporate sponsorships, their dodgy history, their PE kit kit and their grip on the biggest available players in the world which everyone seems absolutely FINE with. I loathe them.
I don’t mind Atletico though and I adore Rayo Vallecano so it’s not a citywide thing. It’s not even a fan thing. I used to work with a Madrid lad in 2009 when we played them in the European Cup. I gave him our scarf on his last day as he was always keen to discuss the Reds. It meant the world to him. ‘It’s not just a badge for you, is it?’ he said, which has long lived with me.
No, it’s the whole ‘Anyone would have their heads turned by Madrid’ thing.
I appear to be writing about them here. Let’s start again.
I’d rather think about Mo Salah than them. Mo Salah brings me joy. Mo Salah standing over a penalty makes me feel safe. There’s joy coming.
Yesterday he notched up his 100th away goal. Not just his 100th goal, but his 100th goal away from home. We’re inventing special categories for him now.
But he also said that he’s looking ‘more out than in’ in the summer as the club are yet to make him a ‘formal’ offer of a new contract. We all know the history so …
Calm here paragraph. That could just mean that the club and his agents haven’t agreed on a worthwhile agreement so there’s nothing to be passed on. Understandably, the club and his agents are going to want something concrete which will pass muster for both sides before it’s passed onto the player, so maybe they’re just ironing out the creases about car park spaces and the like. Liverpool will want something safe in case Mo suddenly turns into Alan Brazil in the next year or so while the player will want to end his career here and finish off the rest of his records, ideally with a bit more cash. Calm paragraph. That leads us to …
Blood’s up paragraph. Sake. It’s December next month. Mere weeks away from the day when Mohamed Salah, the club’s top goal scorer who sits fourth in the all-time list and with decent stab of reaching second if the future is kind, can legitimately talk to overseas clubs about a move away. If they let Mo go, bearing in mind he won a game on his own as recently as yesterday, it will be nothing short of negligence towards player, teammates and fans alike.
If we go into the second half of the season with Mo, Virgil and Trent packing their cases, what faith would there be in the owners? You’ve had years to put this right and it’ll be Christmas soon.
Moderate paragraph. He’s done this before. He (or his agents) like to leave these things late to secure the best possible deal, but this time it seems like he would like it done as soon as possible. Negotiation is a battle.
There’s another angle here. Maybe he saves these ‘outbursts’ for the cameras after he’s demonstrated his worth to the nation. His little speech at Old Trafford came in answer to a question about his haircut so he definitely went to that interview with an agenda. Maybe this is just a bargaining tactic.
Luckily, his form remains as glorious as ever. FSG have been very lucky there. A lesser man might have wondered what the point of legging it around the pitch is if the club don’t seem arsed about keeping him. I’ve often wondered if Steve McManaman’s heart was in it when he signed his pre-agreement with, yes, Real Madrid, when the club let him go. Mind you, Macca always looked too cool to get excited anyway, so it wasn’t always easy to tell. If the three lads feel let down and down tools, then we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Just pay him the money and stop messing about.
Jesus, I hate Madrid.
