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Mohamed Salah again declared he expects to leave Liverpool at the end of the season with ‘no progress’ made on a contract extension.
The forward also laid out his desire to win the Premier League in a fitting swansong with Arne Slot’s side six points clear at the top and with a game in hand.
Salah, 32, is the top-flight’s leading scorer with 17 goals this campaign but after entering the final six months of his lucrative deal, his future remains uncertain. He is now able to sign a pre-contract agreement to join a foreign club in the summer.
While on holiday last year, Salah wrote a list of his targets for the season and is determined to do ‘something special’ by lifting his second league title in May.
‘The first thing that was on the list was to win the Premier League with Liverpool,’ he told Sky Sports.
Pressed on why, he dropped another bombshell over his contract stand-off, saying: ‘It’s probably because we didn’t celebrate the one we won in the way we wanted.
‘And also, coming back here too, it’s my last year in the club so you want to do something special for the city. That was the thing in my head.
‘We waited for that title for 30 years or so. So, to win it and it was the pandemic at that time, we didn’t really have time to celebrate it in the right way. It’s not a nice thing to do, so hopefully we can do it this year.’
Salah has said several times this campaign that this will be his ‘last year’ at Anfield, revealing in September that ‘nobody has talked to me’ about his deal. After starring in the 5-0 win at West Ham on Sunday, he said he was still ‘far away’ from fresh terms.
Asked if he truly believes this will be his last season at the club, he added: ‘So far, yes. It’s the last six months. There is no progress there.
‘We are far away from any progress. So, we just need to wait and see.’
Salah has scored 231 goals since joining Liverpool from Roma in 2016, winning the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following year.
‘The thing in my head is that if this is the last six months, what do you want to see in the future?’ he said. ‘Do you want to look back and say I was concerned or stressed about the contract? Or do you just want to say I had an unbelievable season?
‘That’s what is in my head.
‘If I ever feel distraction, I just remind myself I want to look back and say I had an unbelievable season. That’s what I want to do.’
Salah is one of three Liverpool players out of contract at the end of the season with Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold also coming to the end of their deals.
But despite the precarious situation, club legend Jamie Carragher insisted he was not concerned over the futures of Salah or Van Dijk, claiming they would stay.
‘I’m at the stage now with Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk [where] I’m not too bothered [with] what they say about the situation,’ Carragher said.
‘I do expect it to get sorted with those two players. Maybe I’m being too optimistic.
‘I can’t see a situation where Mo Salah is not starting at Liverpool next season.’
Boss Slot praised Salah after he scored and laid on an assist during the win against West Ham last time out, saying: ‘Mo and the word extraordinary is something I’ve heard a lot in the last six months – he truly deserves this.
‘We know what a player he is and we know what he’s able to do. But apart from that, he works really hard for the team also when the other team has the ball and yeah, we can only hope that he can keep bringing these performances in.
‘But I would like to add that if he scores, there’s also a lead up to him scoring. So there are also other players that bring him in these positions, but if you bring Mo in these positions, he’s extraordinary. Definitely.’
