Mo Salah motivations made clear as experts ponder Liverpool star’s future

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Liverpool’s star man Mohamed Salah was on the scoresheet again this weekend after a tough period, but what does the future hold for the Egyptian icon?

After a run of just one win in six games in all competitions, it was almost time for panic stations at Liverpool. So much so that there were even question marks over Arne Slot’s future.

At the heart of those struggles, both Salah and Virgil van Dijk were criticised by many within the game. But, Salah responded in the best possible way by opening the scoring at Anfield on Saturday night in the win over Aston Villa.

Salah, his manager, and the Liverpool fans will all be hoping this is the end of the slump for him and the team, and that they can still fight their way back into this Premier League title race.

• READ MORE: Forget Mo Salah, another Liverpool player was back to his best against Aston Villa

Graeme Bailey outlines Mo Salah struggles

The topic of Liverpool and Mo Salah came up in the latest episode of Beyond the Back Four, with transfer expert Graeme Bailey explaining the muted celebrations we saw at Villa Park from the Liverpool star.

Bailey said: “He sets himself such a high standard. Liverpool did well in beating a decent, in-form Villa team but there is frustration for the whole side that they’re not quite there yet. Salah is a player with high standards, and we’d be discussing too if he was beaming after scoring. He knows it’s a long trek for Liverpool to catch up with Arsenal and knows Liverpool aren’t where they want to be.”

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Poll: Should Liverpool sell Mo Salah in the summer?

Whether Liverpool can catch Arsenal in the title race or not is one matter, but one underlying question still remains over where Salah will be playing next season. It’s thought Salah still has an offer from the Saudi Pro League on the table, which could be worth around £150m, and Bailey says the 33-year-old will go there eventually.

He added: “They are prepared to offer him whatever he wants basically. He will end up there and it’s admirable the role he wants to take in the league. He might end up in Saudi in the summer, but definitely not in January.”

Meanwhile, Bailey also discussed the impact this summer had on Salah in particular, with the death of Diogo Jota hitting him hard.

“Salah was massively impacted by the loss of Jota. As an industry we don’t realise what the squad went through in summer,” Bailey said. “Salah was close to Harvey Elliott too, so it’s been a lot for Salah to contend with off pitch.”

• READ MORE: 56-second clip shows Arne Slot who Liverpool’s most vital player is, and it’s not Van Dijk

Mo Salah would stay at Liverpool if they qualify for Champions League

Meanwhile, in the episode, finance expert Kieran Maguire also outlined the nature of Mo Salah’s contract at Liverpool and how he might be persuaded to stick around next season.

Maguire said: “We are fortunate to see details of the contracts for elite footballers in recent months and the depth they go into is on an incentivisation basis. Providing Liverpool qualify for Champions League, vast majority of bonuses will be paid for Salah.

“You just don’t see it as much these days that players get rewarded for goals or assists. The feeling in modern football is that teams want players to focus on team success and not individual.

“There are additional payments for overall awards like Player of the Season, caps for country etc. but it’s mainly to do with qualifying for Europe. If Liverpool are in the Champions League next season, I suspect Salah will want to be there. If not, then he may start to ask some questions.”

At the moment, there are plenty of Liverpool fans that think Salah should leave. But, that old saying, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone’, could well ring true for Reds supporters next year if Salah does move on.