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Where FSG may take Liverpool for 2025 pre-season shows £90m deal is all but done, Mohamed Salah link is key

Adam Williams

Mon 16 December 2024 18:15, UK

When Mohamed Salah checks in for pre-season ahead of 2025-26, supporters are praying it will be as a Liverpool player and not for a new club after having just moved on a free transfer.

The Egyptian King is in the form of his life at Anfield – and that is saying something for a forward who has an astonishing 328 goal involvements in Liverpool colours.

In 23 appearances in all competitions, Salah has scored or assisted 29 times, more than any other player in Europe’s so-called Big Five leagues.

Europe’s Top Five Leagues: Most Goal Involvements

And yet, Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are potentially just over two weeks from seeing Salah sign a pre-contract deal with an overseas club.

The 32-year-old is approaching the last six months of his contract. As he himself has made perfectly clear, Salah is yet to receive a palatable contract offer from FSG.

Some reports last week suggested last week that there had been some movement in the impasse between the two parties and – crucially – Salah’s notorious intermediary Ramy Abbass.

Unusually for a player of his stature, Salah is the only player on Abbas’s books.

That is a dynamic that bucks the trend, which sees most Liverpool players represented by super agencies.

Salah isn’t the only player in a standoff with FSG, of course. The futures of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are also up in the air.

While the Dutchman has kept whatever frustrations he has in check, it isn’t exactly the ideal backdrop for Arne Slot’s Premier League title charge.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	15	11	3	1	31	13	18	36
2	ChelseaChelsea	16	10	4	2	37	19	18	34
3	ArsenalArsenal	16	8	6	2	29	15	14	30
4	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	16	8	4	4	21	19	2	28
5	Man CityManchester City	16	8	3	5	28	23	5	27
6	Aston VillaAston Villa	16	7	4	5	24	25	-1	25

Either way, the manager has dealt with the noise magnificently and, most importantly, the out-of-contract trio’s performances have not been negatively impacted. The opposite, in fact.

When jet out on their customary overseas pre-season tour next summer, they will hope to be gearing up for only a second ever Premier League title defence.

In the last few days, a potential destination has emerged. Could it potentially be a signal that things are moving in the right direction with Salah’s contract and, on top of that, a blockbuster commercial deal?

• READ MORE: FSG are sitting on ‘goldmine’ from Jurgen Klopp exit as £50m Liverpool deal is key

Liverpool poised to announced new kit deal as Japan tour in the works

In previous years, Liverpool’s pre-season tours have been slightly more stripped back than many of their contemporaries in the Big Six.

Jurgen Klopp, who was forensic in his preparations for a new campaign, preferred his squad to spend less time in the United States or the Asia-Pacific and more in more familiar climes.

Liverpool still underwent the lucrative exhibition tours in those commercial markets, but not as much as FSG would have liked.

Now, with Arne Slot who, despite his remarkable start to life on Merseyside, does not yet have the same sway as his predecessor, the Boston-headquartered owners have more freedom.

And it was reported late last week that FSG are considering taking Liverpool to Japan, as well as Hong Kong, next summer.

The potential significance of that destination? Japan is a key Adidas market and the German sportswear giants have a history of lobbying clubs to launch their new kits in the country.

That was exactly the situation when Newcastle United signed with Adidas ahead of the current season, with a huge marketing campaign for their third kit engineered with a Japanese focus.

Liverpool are believed to have signed a new deal with Adidas, but it will not be confirmed for several months so as to honour their existing contract with Nike.

The Reds’ new kit partnership is said to represent a major step up in terms of value, with those in the know suggesting it could be worth up to £90m per season.

• READ MORE: Liverpool investors link with oil billionaire as £4.2bn-valued deal shows what future holds for FSG

Mohamed Salah a big factor in FSG’s talks with Adidas

Liverpool are a commercial juggernaut but their ‘brand’ is intertwined with the likes of Salah’s.

Salah is believed to earn around £1m per week in total, with the bulk of that coming from image rights and his own personal brand endorsements.

Crucially, he is an Adidas athlete.

That will have been leveraged on by Liverpool in negotiations with Adidas.

He has his own signature boots made by the company and last year he was one of the faces of the collaboration between them and another of his benefactors, luxury brand Gucci.