Mohamed Salah should just have given hint about Liverpool contract as Arne Slot feelings clear

Mohamed Salah has never been particularly pleased when he misses a chance to score a goal. Be it an opportunity in a game or a match that he has to miss either all or part of, the Liverpool forward wants to play every second possible and find the back of the net with every shot as he continues to chase record after record.

That was why his disappointed reaction when Arne Slot instructed the fourth official to put the number 11 up on the substitute board against RB Leipzig was no surprise. Salah had already provided an assist for what proved to be the only goal of the game, but he wanted to add his own name to the scoresheet and hit the 50 mark for goals in the Champions League.

Salah's hunger to drive forward and continue to hit high numbers of goals has clearly not waned. And as the wait for news on a possible new contract at Liverpool goes on, his desire to play at the highest level for as long as possible remains evident. If he doesn't play for the Reds next year, it would be no surprise to see him at a European rival.

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"He’ll have an eye on Thierry Henry (175 goals) and Frank Lampard (177) by the end of this season, I would imagine," Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports after the Reds beat Chelsea last weekend. "I think stats like this are one of the biggest reasons why Mo Salah will sign a new contract at Liverpool.

"Of course, they’ll be talking about money and length of contract, but I think these are the things that really get the juices flowing for Mo Salah. He breaks all the records at Liverpool, but getting as far as he can up those lists, whether it’s that list or different ones, I think that’s a big part of sort of his focus as a player."

By the time Salah's contract expires at Liverpool, he is likely to have overtaken Billy Liddell in the all-time scoring charts, taking him up to fourth spot. He has an outside chance of moving into third by the time this campaign ends, currently sitting 27 goals behind Gordon Hodgson. In Premier League terms, as Carragher said, he is on the cusp of overtaking the likes of icons like Henry and Lampard.

Of course, Liverpool cannot afford to be handing out contracts based on what Salah has done in the past, but rather what he will do in the future. If he was to pen a three-year deal on the same money he earns now, the Reds need to be confident that his output isn't going to drastically decline to make that investment worthwhile.

The very fact that Salah was taken off with the Leipzig game still in the balance, though, and with around half an hour left on the clock, shows how important he remains for Liverpool under Slot. The Reds boss was keeping him fresh for Sunday's trip to Arsenal in a week when the Egyptian will have started three matches in the space of eight days.

Unless Salah's demands are particularly excessive — which would, to some degree, be understandable, given he holds almost all of the power in negotiations — then a new contract remains a no-brainer. He still has the same hunger and goalscoring prowess — and Liverpool clearly still needs him just as much as ever.