Save for an Arsenal comeback that would put Istanbul 2005 to shame, Liverpool will win just a second league title in 35 years in a few weeks’ time thanks in large part to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
It is a measure of how much the pair mean to Liverpool fans that supporters’ attentions have been fixed on the the pair’s contractual situations as it has on plans for the Premier League title parade.
A sense of drift has set in at Anfield in recent weeks due to defeat in the League Cup final, a painful Champions League exit, and the news that Trent Alexander-Arnold is bound for Real Madrid.
Despite being five time zones away in Boston, perhaps Fenway Sports Group (FSG) were wary of the risk of malaise in L4, as they appear to have hastened their efforts to break the contract deadlock.
Liverpool are now confident that Salah and Van Dijk will sign new contracts by Easter – or that there will at least be a broad agreement in place while they thrash out the intricacies of the deals.
When the ink has dried, there will be sigh of relief at FSG HQ and perhaps even one or two of those bottles of champagne reserved for Anfield on 25 May might be taken off ice.
John Henry, Mike Gordon and Tom Werner don’t like this kind of thing playing out in public. They are private people, generally speaking, and they don’t like having their business model scrutinised.
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Then again, if you value your privacy you probably shouldn’t invest in football, the most popular and well-followed leisure pursuit in the history of mankind, with one of its most famous clubs.
Because the contract stalemate has gone on for so long, some fans have questioned whether FSG are guilty of the cardinal sin for any football owner: a lack of ambition.
Salah and Van Dijk remaining at the club for another two years, by which time they will be 34 and 35 respectively with no resale value, should arrest those suspicions for the time being.
And in truth, FSG are nothing if not ambitious, though their ambition at times manifests itself in very different ways to what supporters expect and deserve.
The European Super League conspiracy nearly four years ago to the day was ambitious. Turning a £300m takeover of Liverpool into an enterprise value of over £4bn is ambitious.
On the flipside, while there have been one or two conservative transfer windows, FSG can’t be accused of failing to reinvest Liverpool’s soaring revenues in the squad.
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Wages and amortisation – i.e., how clubs account for transfer fees over a period of time – have risen in lockstep with turnover, which has more than trebled since FSG bought the club in 2010.
The alchemy that FSG have performed in their 15 years on Merseyside is to put almost not money into the club whilst simultaneously increasing income and spending on recruitment and retention.
The single biggest driver of that growth, media income, is largely outside of their control – but not entirely.
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Premier League and European deals are negotiated broadcasters centrally, but FSG have lobbied behind the scenes and helped grow the pots from which they and their rivals benefit.
And the latest news from UEFA’s nerve centre in Zurich shows that the media income train is not slowing down any time soon.
Liverpool to cash in as UEFA confirm landmark Champions League decision
After nicking a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 clash in early March, hopes were high for the second leg at Anfield.
But a rare defeat in a knockout match on their home turf followed by their loss in the League Cup final at Wembley a week later extinguished Arne Slot’s side’s hopes of a double this season.
However, Liverpool have been handsomely rewarded for their exploits in Europe. The new 36-team format have made this season’s Champions League easily the most lucrative in history.
And at their club competitions committee last week, UEFA have decided against making any changes to the competition for next season, meaning 2025-26 will be equally as money-spinning.
Liverpool have banked £95m or thereabouts this season, benefiting from the central prize money pot and the ‘value pillar’ which is weighted towards English teams because of the nation’s outsized TV deal.
That money will hit Liverpool’s account on 1 June, when UEFA’s season rolls over after the Champions League final in Munich.
UEFA money more than funds Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk contracts
Assuming both renew at their existing base rates, the Champions League cash will comfortable cover Salah and Van Dijk’s new deals for the next two years.
Salah is believed to take home £350,000 per week in basic pay, while Van Dijk is closer to £220,000.
The next two years will therefore cost Liverpool £59.2m, roughly. Even with variable pay – performance-related bonuses, image rights and so on – Liverpool would have change from the UEFA money.
Liverpool’s total wage bill per their accounts for the 2023-24 season was £386m, which was just over 60 per cent of their overall turnover.
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That was a slight increase on the previous campaign despite not playing in the Champions League last term.
Mohamed Salah rejected part-takeover opportunity
One well-documented element of the Salah contract saga is the money he is seemingly on the verge of turning down from Saudi Arabia.
The Pro League were said to have bid £150m for the Egyptian King two years ago, with the player himself offered almost £55m in annual wages.
Not only that but Salah is also believed to have been offered a stake in whichever Pro League side he chose to sign for in a Lionel Messi-style deal.
How long Saudi Arabia’s interest in football will last is up for debate, but with the World Cup in 2034 secured, the Kingdom’s investment in their domestic league won’t wither any time soon.
The commercial value of Pro League clubs themselves is an interesting topic too given its reliance on sovereign wealth for lavish signings.
Still, it would have been interesting to see another superstar footballer take equity in a team.
