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Liverpool on course for £175m jackpot that easily funds Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold contracts

Adam Williams

Tue 26 November 2024 18:05, UK

If Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk were all to leave Liverpool after their contracts expire next summer, it would represent a turning point in the club’s history.

To lose three bona fide Anfield legends in one fell swoop would be a heartbreaker for Liverpool sup♋porters and, according to many anal🃏ysts, baffling from a financial point of view.

However, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) would argue that they have a way of doing things when it comes to contr𝔍act structure and negotiations that has served them well in the past.

In their handling Salah and Van Dijk’s situations, there are echoes of how FSG have historically operated both at Liverpool and their wider spor😼ts empire.

FSG’s emphasis has always been on signing and retaining talents whose resale value will appreciate, n𝔉ot depreciate over the course of their contracts.

Most Liverpool fans would argue that the pair’s electric form this seas💛on combined and their emotional connection with support♎ers exceeds the diminishing economic utility that comes with age.

But that is not the way💛 FSG, hardnosed businesspeople, think.

FSG’s cost control has earned them a reputation in football finance circles as one of the best ownership 𒆙regimes in the sport.

Their view is that break🍌ing their wage structure could lead to a Man United-style wage spira🧸l.

With Trent Alexander-Arnold, the situation is different given that, aged 26 and arguably at the peak of his powers, his value to the club will only continue to c꧑limb as the years roll on.

Ultimately, the right-back holds the high card in negotiations with Liverpool, with Real Madrid willing and able to offer Aꦜlexander൲-Arnold a pay rise wor༺th far more than what he can expect to earn on Merseyside.

FSG want Liverpool to be self sufficient, and that means that every penny Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards put into the p🌱laying squad must be accounted for elsewhere.

Football clubs sort their income into💜 three str🌄eams – commercial, matchday, and media.

In that latter department, Liverpool have received some very welcome news from Premier League HQ.

The finances involved may, however, beg the question as to why FSG cannot depart from their rigid financial🌌 model to do everything they can to keep hold of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold.

• READ MORE: FSG may have handed Liverpool a brand new transfer budget as M🐓ichael Edwards ‘promised’ January funds

Liverpool’s media income set to soar

Since 2019, Liverpool have earned over £1.95bn in money from🍰 broadcasters.

That is almost as much as the other two revenue streams combined over the same pe🎐riod.

Rece✃ntly, some forecasters have suggested that the value of the Premier League’s domestic TV deal may be set to plateau after years of inflation.

However, news this week shows that rumours ๊of the bubble bursting have been greatly exaggerated.

While proceedings at last Friday’s Premier League shareholder meeting were dominated by the APT ♒debacle, it also emerged that TV revenue for the next cycle is up 17 per cent.

That takes the total🦄 amount that Liverpool and their peers will share from the pot to an astonish♒ing £12.25bn.

Significantly, finance expert and author of the Vanity🦹, Sanity and Reality newsletter Greg Cordell has broken down how the increase in rights will favour clubs like the Reds at the top end of the table.

His analysis shows that, if Liverpool main⛦tain their position in 1st place in the Premier League this term, they will bank £175m.

If they retain the title next seꦕason, it will be worth £203m.

They are the kind of figures which, taken in isol๊ation, could quote comfortably cover Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk’s𓃲 wages for the next three to five years.

• READ MORE: Why Liverpool owner♏s FSG have just sent executive to meet Donald Trump as £2.3bn deal key

More than meets the eye in Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold contract talks

The case for not FSG not putting their hand in their pocket to renew the t✅rio’s contracts is diminishingꦇ every time the play for Liverpool at present, with Arne Slot’s side flying in the league and in Europe.

However, Tabloid🍷 headlines have led many of us to think that when a player is in contract talks, there is only one variable at player – their weekly wage.

The reality, as any ageꦐnt will tell you, is far more complex.

When Salah last renewed his Liverpool🉐 deal in 2022, there were so many f😼actors at play that Harvard Business School wrote a research paper on the negotiations with his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa.

In the modern era, image rights are often the sticking po💮int for world class players with huge global folꦫlowings independent of which club they play for.

Then, there is the face off between agent and club with regards to fixed and variab𝓀le compensation. In layman’s terms, how much of their salary is made up of bonuses.

The nature of 🐎the dressing room is that players learn about details of their colleagues’ contracts and make simi♑lar demands, which is partly why FSG are so reluctant to make a rod for their own back.