Mo Salah needs to prove Liverpool were right to break FSG's golden rule with latest move

Talk of Mohamed Salah's future dominated last season with the Egyptian scoring on a weekly basis against the backdrop of that being, potentially, his final campaign at Liverpool.

The forward himself only fuelled the fire admitting openly that he viewed it as his last season at Anfield. His goals and assists had the Reds down as champions elect by the new year, something they duly delivered on, and in April came the announcement those on Merseyside wanted. A new deal.

32-year-old Salah, had been handed a fresh contract for another two years. He turned 33 in June and by the time his latest deal at Liverpool expires he'll be 35.

It seemed a no brainer at the time, but handing a contract to a player of that age went completely against the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) contract policy of not offering extensions to those over the age of 30. Such an approach which was implemented by Michael Edwards during his spell as sporting director between 2016 and 2022.

He's since returned and both Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who turned 34 in June, were given new deals in the hope that continuity would allow Liverpool to continue their dominance.

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So, fast forward six months from Salah penning his new deal and the numbers aren't great. If anything they're a ringing endorsement for why FSG had their contract policy in the first place.

In the final nine games of last season he scored twice. He's netted two goals so far this season. That means that since firing a blank against Everton in early April, Salah has scored four times in 16 games. One goal every four games. Even his creativity has taken a major dip - he's had three assists in his last 17 league games. As a team the Reds are struggling with their expensive, new summer signings yet to properly gel, and Salah is proving to be a victim of their current circumstances.

Salah's age, despite his relentless dedication to recovery and keeping his body in shape, was always going to catch up with him one day. Cristiano Ronaldo is a perfect example of a player, and his team-mates, moulding into a new role and shape to ensure he can defy the ageing process.

Wayne Rooney commented on how Salah's dip in work rate was tolerable whilst he was scoring, but when the numbers drop off that's when the alarm bells ring.

"When it's going well and you're scoring goals and winning games it's great and the team will put up with that but, over the last week, I would question his work ethic," he said.

One of Salah's greatest team-mates, Sadio Mane, was 30 when he left the Reds with his contract winding down. Roberto Firmino was still doing a job for the Reds at 31 and was a sensational performer during the Jurgen Klopp era, but the club also opted against offering him a new deal and he left for Saudi Arabia.

There will have been little regret over those decisions with neither players replicating their Liverpool levels elsewhere. They chose to go down a different path with Salah and, for all his historic achievements, the Egyptian needs to quash the noise and show that the Anfield hierarchy were right to put their policy to one side.

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