Liverpool make Mohamed Salah transfer decision after £150m bid

Liverpool have dismissed the idea of selling Mohamed Salah this summer if he fails to sign a new contract, according to reports.

Salah is in the last 12 months of his Liverpool agreement, and the Mirror claim that the Reds are trying to convince him to extend his stay at Anfield beyond 2025. Captain Virgil van Dijk and vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold are also nearing the end of their contracts, and Liverpool's new backroom team of Michael Edwards, Julian Ward, and Richard Hughes face the task of persuading them all to stay.

Liverpool prefer not to provide updates on the progress of contract negotiations, as they believe it would only distract new head coach Arne Slot as he settles into his role at Anfield. At Slot's introduction on Friday at the club's AXA training ground in Kirkby, Hughes joined the Dutchman to clarify the club's stance on Salah, van Dijk, and Alexander-Arnold.

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Hughes was reluctant to say too much, maintaining that contract discussions are private matters between the club and their representatives. However, he did express their expectation for all three players to be fully committed to Liverpool next season.

This seems to rule out the possibility of Liverpool selling Salah before the summer transfer deadline of August 30, especially considering they turned down a £150million offer from Saudi Arabia just before the window closed last year. The Saudi team Al-Ittihad proposed what would have been a record deal for Liverpool.

The same club are reportedly keeping an eye on Salah's situation, though there are no active moves at this time. Sporting director Hughes commented: "On contractual situations, I don't think it would be fair for me to talk about these.

"These are private matters between club and players. The only concern I and Arne have about situations is total commitment from the players to the cause for next season and we're absolutely convinced that will be the case."

This stance suggests that Salah, set to return for pre-season training on Saturday, might depart on a free transfer next July, yet Liverpool could consider retaining him for his significant contribution to the squad.

Hughes is bracing for a subdued July in the transfer market, anticipating more action in the following month, with Liverpool potentially less active due to their extensive dealings last summer.

Since joining from Bournemouth after the previous season, Hughes has been acclimatising rapidly and expressed his pleasure in collaborating with Slot.

"It's great to work with Arne," he added. "Clearly it was a difficult position at first as we both had jobs to finish and there was an important season to finish at Liverpool.

"Since then we've been in communication daily on many things - logistics, organisation and, of course, preparing for the transfer window.

"That's something we'll know more about as we go on because the more time we will spend with the current squad and we're delighted to have inherited a very talented squad. We need to improve, we need to improve on the training pitch and with the window open, we'll always be opportunistic if we can. If we can improve certain areas as we go, we'll look to do that."