Mo Salah

[BG1973]

Reality bites at this point. We can argue all day long about whether in the current market, with current top players, Salah is worth the £400k a week. He might well be when you consider DeGea is on what £350k, Pogba even more... BUT, the reality is we can only afford to pay what the club can afford. We aren't petro dollars or quadrillionaires or whatever the **** Newcastle are now... we have to pay salaries within our means and commensurate with what other players in the squad will feel is fair. If Salah gets his £400k a week, I have no doubts other agents will be gunning for massive salary rises for their players too... it sets a dangerous precedent when we have finite resources.

I get why Mo (and more so, his agent) wants a massively lucrative deal - he's one of the top three players on the planet right now and worth every penny. Reality is, we don't have deep enough pockets to pay him that. And even if we did, the return on that investment would diminish rapidly in the next couple of seasons due to his age.

It's a Catch 22 situation and likely we'll have a few more of them with Mane, Bobby, Ox, Milner and the like with their contracts/age dilemma.

We need to start investing in back-up/replacements for the front three... another Diogo type, we missed the boat with Bowen, I can't see FSG investing in Bellingham unless we sell one or more of the front three... it's tough for Jurgen to keep getting a tune from an ageing squad with high intensity pressing.

Not sure what the answer is... but whatever concludes... it's not going to please everyone.

Do I think keeping Salah will bring immediate trophies?
I think no as it will limit what else we can invest and we have fallen behind city again.

Do we think putting Salah on a huge contract could be harmful?
Yes

Do we think he may have little resale value in 3 years?
Yes

Are we generally dependent on player sales to support investment?
Yes


Taking the emotion out of it, I think we need to sell him. I think if we got a big fee for him and invested it well then we will stay competitive into the next managers reign. If we don't I think a real risk that the new manager has an even older squad and no money.

Putting the emotion back in I want to keep him and make the signings we need to stay at the top.. But that seems really unlikely.

[Le Chef]

Martial is looking for a club.

£240k a week he's allegedly on.

[RedAndWhite]

Taking the emotion out of it, I think we need to sell him. I think if we got a big fee for him and invested it well then we will stay competitive into the next managers reign. If we don't I think a real risk that the new manager has an even older squad and no money.

Putting the emotion back in I want to keep him and make the signings we need to stay at the top.. But that seems really unlikely.

I think he will be sold. There are very very few clubs (City, PSG, Utd, Chelsea, Madrid maybe) who can afford to pay him what he wants, and rightly or wrongly we are not one of those.

As for competitive - we will be more than competitive with 18 of the other 19 clubs in the league. Unfortunately for us we can never be consistently competitive with City unless we also get oil money or similar and can just spend without worrying about it.

[Charly]

We will never be competitive with City... unless they stop cheating ffp, or we start.

[S-RED]

Yes Mo,

i should not celebrate Egypt progressing (for LFC reasons), but happy for the lad.

Perfect winning pen also

[danperkins]

Arrgh ffs, wanted him back wrapped in cotton wool ffs. They'll probably end up going all the way.

[S-RED]

Arrgh ffs, wanted him back wrapped in cotton wool ffs. They'll probably end up going all the way.

haha i get that; but imagine a buzzing AFCON winner Mo in the prem - UN****INSTOPPABLE

[danperkins]

haha i get that; but imagine a buzzing AFCON winner Mo in the prem - UN****INSTOPPABLE

Yeah don't mind me just being selfish, he probably deserves it in fairness.

[S-RED]

That was also a message to FAB !!! NO, this is how you take a pen when i am back i am on Pens

hahaha

[BobTheCharmer]

That was also a message to FAB !!! NO, this is how you take a pen when i am back i am on Pens

hahaha

I'd have Fab on them personally.

[Buzzo]

I'd have Fab on them personally.

Why?

Salah wants to score goals and break records - he feeds off that, his desire to do score goals means we win. Taking him off pens would be a terrible decision. Imagine the optics on that decision from a morale and mangement POV? Imagine telling him.

Fab and Milner are good also, but I'm 100% happy with Salah on them, it is far better to have a confident striker on pens. If he misses a few then, yeah, but he has scored some massive pens for us (and for Egypt). He is ice cool on them.

[BobTheCharmer]

I just never feel confident when salah steps up. His record suggests I have to little to worry about, but he hits a lot in saveable positions. Fab before he came to us had a great record.

Either way great to have 2 decent ones on the pitch.

[Buzzo]

I just never feel confident when salah steps up. His record suggests I have to little to worry about, but he hits a lot in saveable positions. Fab before he came to us had a great record.

Either way great to have 2 decent ones on the pitch.

I think those nerves can be game related!

Totally agree, Fab has looked flawless on pens. Amazing to have, well three solid pen options really.

This was pretty fascinating on pens from Ben Foster on Salah and pens.

[ame="https://youtu.be/Ow4svBye3TI"]What Mo Salah said to Ben foster - YouTube[/ame]

[red g]

I just never feel confident when salah steps up. His record suggests I have to little to worry about, but he hits a lot in saveable positions. Fab before he came to us had a great record.

Either way great to have 2 decent ones on the pitch.

Always felt the same about a Gerrard pen

[Sus]

I think those nerves can be game related!

Totally agree, Fab has looked flawless on pens. Amazing to have, well three solid pen options really.

This was pretty fascinating on pens from Ben Foster on Salah and pens.

What Mo Salah said to Ben foster - YouTube

That is super interesting, thanks for sharing Buzzo - really gives an insight into the mindset needed to be one of the great players