'Perfect marriage goes on - Liverpool and Salah need each other'

Mohamed Salah's new contract is the perfect outcome for all involved with Liverpool and delivers confirmation that both parties in this sporting marriage simply cannot live without each other.

Salah, even though he is 33 in June, would have received lucrative offers from elsewhere had he decided to leave Anfield on a free transfer when his current £350,000-a-week agreement ends at the conclusion of this season.

The availability of this world-class talent, as driven as ever and seemingly still at the peak of physical powers, would have attracted the attention of the biggest European names as well as sparking renewed interest from the Saudi Pro League, that arguably prizes the signing of Salah above all others when measured by current global profile.

It was on 24 November, after scoring twice in a 3-2 win at Southampton, that Salah claimed he was "more out than in" at Liverpool and had yet to receive a formal contract off.

He had already sounded the alarm bells among supporters in September by suggesting after the 3-0 victory at Manchester United that this might be his final season at Anfield.

Salah has, instead, extended his time at Liverpool and a love affair that began almost from the moment he scored his first goal for the club following a £34m move from AS Roma, a bundled effort in a 3-3 draw at Watford on the opening day of the 2017-18 season.

For Liverpool owner's Fenway Sports Group (FSG), it keeps hold of a player the fans instantly crowned "the Egyptian King", while demonstrating it is willing to bend from a "Moneyball" philosophy that has previously made it reluctant to award lucrative deals to over-30s.

Salah's form and fitness makes him a special case, something FSG has readily acknowledged.

And for head coach Arne Slot, who has made a seamless transition from the Jurgen Klopp era with Liverpool on course for a 20th title, he can plan for the future with an Anfield icon and one of the great stars of the modern era.

It is all a far cry from Salah's first appearance in front of Liverpool's fans, as a shadow Chelsea player drafted into a weakened team fielded by Jose Mourinho on 27 April 2014, a game remembered for Steven Gerrard's slip and a 2-0 loss that cost the Reds great the chance of an elusive Premier League winners' medal.

Salah had rejected Liverpool to move to Chelsea from Basel four months earlier but made little impact, scoring only two goals in 19 appearances with 10 starts at Stamford Bridge.

He even heard ironic cheers from the Kop that day when he was booked for fouling Raheem Sterling.

Since then, it has only been adulation for Salah, who now gets the chance to write new chapters in his legendary Liverpool story.

Salah arrived at Liverpool with a reputation as a gifted player, although an occasionally wayward finisher.

The dedication and desire was always there as he proved when he was 14, travelling more than four hours by bus, sometimes changing five times, from his home to train with Arab Contractors, then taking the same return journey.

It soon became clear Liverpool had acquired a player with pace, skill and a priceless ability to score and create goals from a starting position wide on the right.

As an individual, Salah has always kept a low profile, as Murat Yakin – the Switzerland coach who worked with the Egyptian at Basel - told BBC Sport after his astonishing early impact at Anfield: "Mo is very humble and modest. He is really down to earth and also sympathetic off the pitch. But on the pitch he is a leader, smart and aggressive in a good way."

After Salah scored in the 2013 Europa League quarter-final win against Tottenham, Yakin said: "If Mohamed could score as well, he would not be here any more."

And when he did start scoring, Yakin was proved right.

He left for Chelsea, where he only played 530 minutes in the league, before loan spells at Fiorentina and Roma, signing permanently for the latter prior to going to Liverpool.

Stunning numbers prove Salah's greatness

Salah put the marker down in a sensational first season at Liverpool when he scored 44 goals and had 14 assists in 52 appearances, which only underscores the damage done when he lasted just 31 minutes in that campaign's Champions League final in Kyiv, injuring his shoulder when he was felled by Sergio Ramos in a 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid.

He gained redemption when scoring from the penalty spot as Liverpool beat Tottenham in the following year's final in Madrid.

As a testimony to his constant impact, Salah's lowest goals total in a full season came the following campaign when he "only" scored 23 as Liverpool won the title for the first time in 30 years.

Salah's current tally of 243 Liverpool goals in 394 games now places him third in their all-time scorers, having overtaken the legendary Billy Liddell's total of 228 and Gordon Hodgson (241) this season.

He remains behind 1966 World Cup-winner Roger Hunt (285) and all-time record scorer Ian Rush (346).

In a season in which he already has 27 Premier League goals - making him the leading scorer this term - he is closing in on some of the competition's legendary figures.

Salah has 184 Premier League goals, level fifth on the all-time list with Sergio Aguero after moving ahead of Thierry Henry on 175 and Frank Lampard's 177.

Only Andrew Cole (187), Wayne Rooney (208), Harry Kane (213) and leading scoring Alan Shearer (260) are ahead of him.

He is Liverpool's leading Premier League goalscorer with 182 goals goals in 281 games, his remarkable hit rate placed into context by the record of another Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, who is in second place. He played 266 matches in the Premier League for the club, scoring 128 goals.

For Liverpool at Anfield alone, Salah has a remarkable 103 goals in 142 home Premier League games.

When he reached a total of 250 goal involvements with Liverpool's third in the 3-1 win against Leicester City on Boxing Day in his 250th Premier League start for Liverpool, he was only the fourth player to hit this landmark with one club.

Salah has since moved on to 267 goal involvements - Wayne Rooney had 276 for Manchester United and Old Trafford team-mate Ryan Giggs had 271, while Harry Kane totalled 259 at Tottenham.

The strike that wrapped up the win against the Foxes was the 100th home goal of his Premier League career, including two he scored for Chelsea.

When he scored in the 5-0 win at West Ham United on 29 December, it meant Salah had scored 20 goals in all competitions in each of his eight seasons at Liverpool.

A measure of quality is always how a player performs away from the comfort zone of home territory. Salah delivers on every level, having scored 79 times in league games away from Anfield.

Salah is the man for all occasions and all locations, as proved when he became the first Liverpool player to score 50 goals in Europe in the 2-1 Champions League win against Lille at Anfield, nine more than former captain Gerrard.

Liverpool's fans demanded Salah be given a new Anfield deal after his stunning form under Arne Slot

Why Salah is staying at Liverpool

Salah's decision to move his Liverpool career towards the decade mark is a sign of continuing hunger for the game's biggest prizes, as well as an act of faith in the management of Slot to help him achieve his goals.

Liverpool's supporters will be overjoyed at agreement being reached, having made their feelings clear when Salah used rare public utterances to bring an impasse over his contract into the public domain.

When Salah used the stage at Southampton to expose his contract deadlock, it was only the third time in seven and a half years he had stopped to speak to reporters.

The first was in April 2018, the result of a promise made to journalists after reaching 40 goals in his debut season, then after the Champions League final win against Spurs 14 months later.

It was looked upon as a public exercise in getting talks moving, further evidence that Liverpool was always the place where Salah wanted to be. If that was the ploy it did not work immediately - but the desired outcome has now been achieved.

The Kop had already delivered its verdict with the banner based on his trademark goal celebration containing the message: "He Fires A Bow. Now give Mo His Dough."

Now that wish, as well as Salah's, has been fulfilled.

Saudi Arabia would have been fertile ground for Salah financially, but it could not offer the enticement of the biggest honours in the game, something he can still pursue at Liverpool.

Salah's relationship with former manager Klopp looked strained towards the end of last season, including a very public spat at West Ham United when Liverpool conceded a goal as he waited to come on as substitute in a 2-2 draw.

He did not break stride as he walked past reporters but his words "if I speak there will be fire" did nothing to disguise tensions.

This season, despite a recent dip from his stellar standards, Salah has thrived under Slot. He has, at times, almost looked like a man on a personal mission to re-establish Liverpool as the dominant force in domestic football.

Liverpool, cashing in on Manchester City's collapse and a faltering Arsenal, have established superiority in the Premier League, although the loss to Paris St-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League was a disappointment after finishing top of the new league league table format to reach the knockout phase.

When Liverpool hit the top of the Premier League table with victory over Brighton at Anfield on 2 November, Salah reacted on X with: "Top of the table is where this club belongs. Nothing less."

And that is where Liverpool have stayed, with Salah the main inspiration.

Liverpool's form under the calm, methodical Dutchman Slot, plus the fact they show every sign of hunting down those major honours Salah craves now and in the future, will all have played into the Egyptian's thinking.

He will surely secure a second Premier League title, but Salah will also believe he should have more than one Champions League after mixed fortunes in the competition.

He had the fateful injury against Real Madrid in Kyiv in the 2018 final and then suffered anguish against the same opponents in the final in Paris four years later in what became a personal duel with keeper Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian produced six saves from Salah alone as Real again broke Liverpool hearts with a 1-0 win.

Financial considerations, of course, will have played their part, but the prospect of leading a rebuilt, rejuvenated Liverpool into a new era under Slot will also have appealed.

Salah on a mission is a dangerous prospect. He now has the opportunity to add to his trophy haul of one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups, the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup at Anfield.

It means that for Salah and Liverpool, the perfect sporting marriage goes on.