What happens when an immovable force, FSG, meets an unstoppable object, Mohamed Salah’s agent, in a contract stand-off for the ages? The last six months at Liverpool have provided the answer.
It’s telling that, in a season that will conclude with Liverpool winning only their second title in the Premier League era and the first in front of fans, the Salah psychodrama has dominated the press in 2024-25.
As it stands, the Egyptian King will no longer be a Liverpool player in three months’ time. The Reds would also lose a player for free for whom they rejected a £150m Saudi-backed bid less than two years ago.
For FSG, whose 15 years at Liverpool have been characterised by almost faultless recruitment and retention, that would be perceived as a major stain on their Anfield legacy.
Salah will have turned 33 by the time his £350,000-a-week contract expires and the concern at Fenway Sports Group’s Boston HQ is that they don’t want to be locked into a deal with a diminishing force.
But the forward is having probably his best season in a Liverpool shirt, with a stupefying output of 54 goal contributions – 32 goals, 22 assists – in just 43 matches in 2024-25.
He and his agent, the mercurial Ramy Abbas Issa, are well aware of the leverage that Salah’s perma-purple patch has given them in negotiations with FSG.
It was a similar tale back in 2022, when the pair were last in contracts talks with Liverpool. The result? A new three-year deal for Salah – and some unprecedented insight into how these actually play out.
A study from Harvard Business School, with input from Salah and Abbas Issa themselves, gave what was effectively a blow-by-blow analysis of the discussions with FSG, as well as details on the player’s finances.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
In that research, it was revealed that Salah earns around £1m per week, though that sum encompasses his basic salary, bonuses, and – most significantly – his various commercial contracts.
And now, the scale of the attacker’s earnings outside his Liverpool contract have been revealed.
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Mohamed Salah banks £29m amid Liverpool contract stand-off
Salah houses his UK commercial business in a dedicated limited company.
He has sponsorship deals with the likes of Adidas, Pepsi, Vodafone, and Visa and, although the bulk of his deals originate outside the country, his UK company accounts are a flavour of how big the Salah brand is.
In the last 24 hours, the figures for the financial year ending June 2024 have been released on Companies House.
Salah’s company has around £7.3m worth of cash in the bank, with net assets of £29.3m, which essentially represents its cumulative profits. That figure was up £4m on the previous year.
Interestingly, it appears that a lot of cash has been converted into investments this year. The balance sheet shows just under £30.6m, including just under £2m property investments.
The figures make it easy to see how, as Salah’s agent has previously revealed, he earns around £1m per week when his various non-football earnings are taken into account.
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What is the latest with Salah’s contract?
There are umpteen moving parts in contract negotiations of this significance, ranging from the nuances in contract demands to broader political issues that influence the financial landscape and FSG’s budgets.
Speaking exclusively to TBR Football last week, University of Liverpool football finance lecturer said that FSG will be watching Manchester City’s legal battle with Premier League closely, for example.
CREDIT: Adam Williams / GRV Media
That case, Maguire says, could have a material impact on how Liverpool approach the Salah situation, as well as his colleague Virgil van Dijk, this summer.
Among well-connected journalists, the consensus is that, while things are probably moving in the right direction, there is still some way to go before a deal is done with either Salah or Van Dijk.
Liverpool owners FSG target new takeover
If Salah does leave Liverpool in the summer, he will be doing so at a time when FSG are looking to take the club into a new era with the multi-club model.
Michael Edwards, previously Liverpool’s sporting director, has returned to the club, this time as CEO, on the condition that he oversees its move into the multi-club space.
CREDIT: Adam Williams / GRV Media
Last summer, FSG backed out of discussion to buy Bordeaux, a historic French club currently playing in the fourth tier following administrative relegation in light of financial issues last season.
They have also been linked with clubs in Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, the United States and beyond. And Spain is the latest market reportedly eyed by FSG.
FSG are said to be in talks to acquire a controlling stake in second tier side Malaga following an exploratory visit to the club last month.
Like Bordeaux, Malaga are currently in administration and could therefore represent a cut-price takeover for FSG.
However, it has also been reported that Qatar Sports Investments, the state-backed owners of Paris Saint-Germain and Braga, are in advanced talks with Malaga’s owners too.
And significantly, peripheral Qatari royal Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani owns over half of Malaga, likely giving the Qatar Sports Investment bid the edge.
