Liverpool owners FSG make £550m move that blows Mohamed Salah’s contract demands out of the water

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If FSG made financial decisions based on the noise from the terraces, Liverpool would have matched Mohamed Salah’s contract demands a long time ago.

As it happens, Fenway Sports Group have seemingly left it until the eleventh hour before Salah is allowed to sign a pre-contract with overseas club to present the Egyptian king with a formal proposal.

After 21 Premier League goal involvements in 14 appearances this season, Salah has finally received what has been characterised as an ‘opening contract offer’ by the Boston-based investment group.

For most owners, it would have been unthinkable to event entertain the prospect of losing such a player for free. But FSG are not most owners.

In this instance, it appears that the pressure from Liverpool supporters – not to mention Salah and his agent, Ramy Abbas – has simply reached a tipping point.

The feeling in the boardroom is that, in this case, Salah’s value on the pitch offsets the risk that his age and committing to a new £350,000-a-week-plus deal represents.

But the owners will continue to make most of the big recruitment and retention decisions based on their data and insights. They have software that tracks, among other things, forecasted resale value.

As football finance expert Kieran Maguire recently told TBR Football, this approach has made FSG one of the most respected ownership groups in the industry, even if it is unpalatable to most bedrock fans.

Every penny available to Arne Slot and Richard Hughes needs to be fully costed against revenue.

Liverpool aren’t short on income, but the margins are tight in Premier League football.

As a business, Liverpool are subject to the slings and arrows of a sport which has retained at least some financial meritocracy. Missing out on European qualification, for example, has a clear material impact.

At some of FSG’s other franchises, the same principles don’t necessarily apply. Or, at least, the financial impact of a fallow year on the field of play is absorbed by other elements of the model.

FSG oversee one of the most valuable sports and entertainment empires in the world.

Their two biggest enterprises after Liverpool are Major League Baseball and National Hockey League outfits in the Boston Red Six and Pittsburgh Penguins.

In those leagues, costs are more fixed and a return on investment is all but guaranteed because of the closed-shop franchise model.

And developments elsewhere in FSG’s network show why, despite football’s global appeal and the club’s huge enterprise value, the owners are perhaps more willing to spend money outside of Liverpool.

• READ MORE: Liverpool owners FSG now have £245m problem as Luis Diaz’s agent confirms landmark deal

FSG’s Red Sox submit near-world record contract offer

The most valuable contract in sports history was signed by Lionel Messi in 2017 and saw Barcelona commit to paying him around £530m over four years.

Outside of football, the most valuable contract an individual athlete has ever received is Shoehei Otani’s 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That agreement, which has seen the Japanese pitcher win Major League Baseball’s World Series in his first year at the franchise co-owned by Chelsea’s Todd Boehly, is worth approximately £550m over 15-years.

But there is now a new record holder, again in baseball.

Over a 15-year deal, Juan Soto will earn an astonishing £600m with the New York Mets, with the 26-year-old Dominican set to move as a free agent after spending last season with the Yankees.

There was a host of MLB sides competing for his signature, including FSG’s Boston Red Sox.

As relayed by the New York Post, FSG are believed to have offered Soto around £550m over 15 years. That equates To £36.66m per year, or £705,000 per week.

Ultimately, their bid failed. But that proposal dwarfs Salah’s contract demands.

Exactly how much the 32-year-old is asking for is not known, but his current package sees him earn around £350,000, or approaching £400,000 depending on different reports.

Currently, Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne is the Premier League’s best paid player, earning in excess of £400,000 per week.

• READ MORE: European Super League plot revived as John Henry and FSG’s Liverpool stance set for major test

Liverpool’s contract conundrum: The latest on Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk

Like Salah, two bona fide Liverpool icons in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil dan Dijk are also out of contract at the end of the season.

Alexander-Arnold is being courted by Real Madrid, while Manchester City are have even said to be interested in the right-back’s signature.

At one point, the 26-year-old seemed destined to leave the club but there has reportedly been a degree of progress in talks with him in recent weeks, although there is still some way to go.

Van Dijk meanwhile has been presented with a formal offer from FSG in the last few days, and the mood music at Anfield is that the owners are confident he will be a Liverpool player next season.