LIVERPOOL, England -- In the foyer of Liverpool's AXA Training Centre last Friday, giant television screens beamed out the news that many fans on Merseyside had been waiting to hear all season. After months of speculation that he would leave the club on a free transfer when his contract expired in the summer, star forward Mohamed Salah had finally put pen to paper on a two-year extension and the announcement had given everyone at the club's Kirkby training base a visible boost in the run-in to a Premier League season that looks set to end in glory.
"Mo's signed a new contract, has he?" a relaxed-looking Virgil van Dijk quipped as he passed by, taking in the rolling coverage of his teammate's extension. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment from a player well-acquainted with the realities of being at the center of a protracted contract saga, given his own future was following a similar path.
A week ago, the 33-year-old Liverpool captain was still playing coy, but he too had already agreed a new two-year deal, which was officially confirmed by the club on Thursday. "It was always Liverpool," Van Dijk told the club's official website. "That was the case. It was always in my head, it was always the plan, and it was always Liverpool."
Salah, who at 32 is in the form of his life and just broke the record for the most goal involvements (45) in a 38-game Premier League season, had been similarly effusive about his feelings for the club which has facilitated his rise to global superstardom over the past eight years. And, while there has been an air of inevitability for some time about the duo's continued stay on Merseyside, it is nonetheless a huge relief for those of a Liverpool persuasion to finally have the news confirmed.
Of course, the silence around the future of right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold remains deafening, and a source has told ESPN that Real Madrid are "very confident" of signing him on a free transfer this summer. But, with Salah and Van Dijk's services now secured until at least the summer of 2027, and only six points needed to seal only the club's second Premier League title since 1990, Liverpool are convinced that they are poised for more success in the years to come.
How contract sagas unfolded
There have been few hotter topics on this season's footballing agenda than the futures of Liverpool's out-of-contract trio. Rarely a day has passed by without the minutiae of each saga being dissected either online or on TV, with the club repeatedly coming under fire for letting three of their most important players enter the final year of their respective deals.
Typically, Liverpool would look to secure a player to a new contract when there are around two years left on their existing deal. However, when Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold were in that position in the summer of 2023, Liverpool were in the midst of a seismic shake-up, with the departure of lauded sporting director Michael Edwards and his successor Julian Ward -- both now back working in a different capacity for owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) -- having left a vacuum of power behind the scenes.
January 2024's news that manager Jurgen Klopp would be leaving that summer further scuppered Liverpool's long-term planning, while incoming sporting director Richard Hughes' initial focus was on finding a replacement for the most successful manager in the club's recent history.
However, with Arne Slot having made a fine start to life on Merseyside, concerns started to mount about the apparent lack of headway being made in negotiations with three of the club's biggest stars. That concern only intensified in November when, after scoring two goals in Liverpool's 3-2 Premier League win over Southampton, Salah sought out journalists in the mixed zone at St. Mary's Stadium to voice his own frustrations.
"We are almost in December, and I haven't received any offers yet to stay in the club, [so] I'm probably more out than in," the Egypt international said.
It was only the third time in his Liverpool career Salah had spoken to the written press and, aware that his words carry enormous weight, it looked as if he was attempting to force the club's hand. Recently, though, Salah has been keen to keep his own counsel, and a source told ESPN that positive discussions over an extension were ongoing for several months, with Hughes overseeing negotiations with Salah's agent, Ramy Abbas Issa.
While externally debate raged over whether Salah would seek to leave Anfield for the riches of the Saudi Pro League -- having been the subject of a rejected £150 million bid from Al Ittihad in the summer of 2023 -- a source told ESPN that both Liverpool and Salah have always been convinced of a mutual desire to continue what has so far been a remarkable partnership, with Salah and his young family settled and happy in the North West of England.
A source also told ESPN that, despite speculation that Salah -- who is Liverpool's highest-paid player -- had agreed to reduce his salary in order to remain at Anfield, a pay cut was never on the agenda for either party, with his new deal costing the club in the region of £17m to £20m a year.
Unlike Salah, Van Dijk has continually remained tight-lipped on the state of his own negotiations, with discussions having been ongoing between Hughes and the defender's representative -- Neil Fewings, of the ROOF agency -- for many months.
Sources have told ESPN that from the outset of those negotiations it was abundantly clear that, as in the case of Salah, the desire of both parties was to extend Van Dijk's stay at Anfield, with a determination to continue competing at the highest level fuelling both players' decisions.
How Salah and Van Dijk evolved into Liverpool legends
Salah and Van Dijk's legendary status at Liverpool is already secured, with both players having amassed an impressive array of collective and individual honors during their eight seasons on Merseyside.
Neither player, though, looked particularly destined for such greatness at the outset of their careers. Indeed, it's worth noting that Salah's first outing at Anfield came on one of the most disappointing days in Liverpool's recent history, when the Egypt international came on as substitute for Chelsea in a 2-0 win for the visitors that derailed the Reds' hopes of clinching the 2013-14 Premier League title.
However, sentiment toward Salah soon shifted following his £36.9 million move from AS Roma in the summer of 2017, with the forward racking up an incredible 44 goals in all competitions in his debut season.
"Straight away, Salah had that sense that every time he got the ball he was going to score," Ian Doyle, Chief Liverpool writer at the Liverpool Echo, told ESPN. "No matter how many times you score a goal as a forward -- whether you're Alan Shearer, Ian Rush or Thierry Henry -- it doesn't always feel like that.
"But every so often you have those periods where you think everything you hit is going to go in and, more importantly, the opposition think that as well. It's the sort of thing that only really happens once in a striker's career, but the thing about Salah is he's gone on to do, if not quite that, very close to it for eight seasons."