Why Salah is hitting new heights at Liverpool under Arne Slot – THE SHARPE END

Mohamed Salah, at 32 and now out of contract, is producing better numbers for Liverpool than ever before. That much is clear.

The simple math is as follows: nineteen games, twelve goals, ten assists. Salah scores an average of a goal or an assist every 69 minutes. Even in his devastating debut season at Anfield in 2017/18, when he scored an impressive 44 goals, Salah was only involved every 71 minutes on average.

Salah reached double figures for both goals and assists after 17 games, the first player from Europe's top five leagues to do so in all competitions, and by far the fastest player to do so for Liverpool in the last forty years. The previous fastest was Luis Suarez in 2013/14, who won 23 games.

In the Premier League alone, his goals and assists are worth 17 points to Liverpool this season, more than any other player in the division.

It is clear that they would be much worse off without him and that his influence on Liverpool's fate is far greater than anyone else.

It is that influence and importance that has Liverpool's owners scratching their heads and laying beads on their abacus over Salah's new contract, or rather, lack thereof.

Speaking to Mail Sport at St Mary's Stadium, Salah revealed that Liverpool have not yet put an offer on the table. He was, in his own words, 'more out than in' about whether he would play for Liverpool next season.

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, or FSG for short, are reluctant to hand over big contracts to players in their 30s. That's why they have parted ways with Sadio Mane, Gini Wijnaldum, Roberto Firmino, Joel Matip, Thiago, Adam Lallana and James Milner to name just a handful in the past. The logic is correct.

Players in their 30s are past their prime, so why stretch the purse strings and crack the pay structure for an aging star with no resale value that could drop not long after the ink is dry.

However, Salah feels differently. And, importantly, so does Liverpool. This is no longer Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, this is Arne Slot's Liverpool. This is not the high-energy 'Heavy Metal' Liverpool of old who harassed opponents and pressed with such ferocious intensity that it would surely eventually suck the energy out of a 32-year-old's legs, no matter how Salah's six-pack bulges every time. he tears off his shirt to celebrate in front of the Kop.

This is a Liverpool who are much more composed and much more selective in the use of their bursts of energy.

Already this season, Salah is sprinting less, covering less distance around the pitch, pressing less and winning less possession in the final third than in the previous four campaigns under Klopp.

The load on his legs and the impact on his body are much less brutal under Slot. He can conserve energy and potentially let him play at the peak of his powers for longer.

Slot's playing style, apart from the change in intensity, sees Salah move into more influential positions on the pitch. He has a higher percentage of his touches on the right side of the penalty area, where he gets most of the goals and assists, where he is most dangerous.

Salah already earns around £350,000 a week and realistically that figure is well above that figure with the bonuses he collects in his current top form. He would probably want more than that in a new deal.

Is it worth the gamble? To let Salah walk away while he is playing like this would be a huge risk, both on the pitch and because of the furore it would cause in the stands. Give him his money, as the chant goes, and what does that mean for Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who are also out of contract?

Let him go and how do you replace someone so influential? Liverpool and Slot, even without their talisman, would find a way out. They found a way to replace Ian Rush, they found a way to replace Suarez, they found a way to replace club legend Steven Gerrard and then won the Premier League without him.

Heroes leave and new stars eventually shine in the dark spaces they leave behind.

The question is, with Salah currently at the top, do they really want to have to do it all again?