"I'm shocked" | Soccer Saturday react to Mohamed Salah signing new Liverpool contract

Shall we start with Liverpool, Merse? Shall we start with a certain Mo Salah, who yesterday finally announced he had signed a new two-year deal with the club. It's been something we've been returning to pretty much most weeks throughout Soccer Saturday this season. Would he not sign? He has signed. For you, was there always a feeling that the longer this went on, the more likely he was to sign? No, I'm shocked. I'm really shocked. I didn't think he'd sign. I thought it just dragged on too long. To let your contract go to this long, with literally two months, three months to go, for me that tells me that you want to be leaving. Do you know what I mean? So I'm shocked. It's a major, major coup for Liverpool. Major coup. You're getting a £100m player for nothing. It's unbelievable. They've had the biggest result. For them to let their three players wind their contracts down and to get probably two out of the three to sign is a major coup. And it just shows you what an unbelievably how big a club Liverpool is. Clinton, are you as surprised as Merce that he signed? No, I'm not surprised to be fair. I know what Merce is saying, though, because the contract's gone so late. But I literally did think that he would sign. I kept saying it. But I know probably why Merce is saying it, because a lot of rumours that he wanted a three-year contract. He's obviously signed a two-year contract and you've got to give him what he wants. As Merce said, he's £100m worth of talent there. I think he's fantastic. He's brilliant for the Premier League side. We want the best players to stay in the Premier League. And I think a lot of players will probably be unhappy, but happy as well that they've got a class player like that. But it's great news for the Liverpool fans. I think Mo Salah this season has been a revelation. He's been outstanding. And so I'm sure as an Evertonian, absolutely delighted by this news. Another two years of Mo Salah down the road at Anfield. But he'll be 35 by the time this contract comes to an end. I mean, he's been in scintillating form this season. Listen, it has dropped off a little bit, but then we could argue the whole team has in recent games. Is this a gamble, given his age? No, I don't think so. I think the consistency that he's shown over this period of time, I think he's... I think when you look at Liverpool and the way that they do things, the way that they do the contracts, they usually don't give those lucrative offers to those older players. But I just think Mo Salah... You have to make exceptions, don't you? That's what I mean. I think Mo Salah, I think Virgil van Dijk are different and you have to change things for them. And that's exactly what Liverpool have done. You know, when you look at that, when you look at his stats, they're absolutely unbelievable, aren't they? Even this season, 27 goals, 17 assists from 31 games. It's just incredible. And yeah, I know you said he's dipped maybe a little bit of late, but I think not having Trent Alexander-Arnold, I think that certainly does affect him slightly because he's constantly feeding him and you know the quality that he's got. But yeah, I just think that you have to try. I mean, that's extraordinary. Most goal involvement since Salah joined Liverpool. He's at the top of the league, 182 goals, 85 assists, 267. When you've got those kind of figures and he keeps delivering, has he done this season? Then as you're saying, it's not really a gamble, is it? No, I don't think it is. I don't think it is for Van Dijk either. And I think when you look at all three players, I think that contract situation, probably all being slightly intertwined, but different because they're different profiles of players, aren't they? But it's consistently doing that over that long period of time, you know, right up there this season, 27 goals, 17 assists. It's just, it's incredible stats and numbers and he's done that over a long period of time. So I think for Liverpool, it's a huge boost. I'm sure the fans woke up and were absolutely delighted. And it sounds, Portie, from hearing what we do from around the player in recent weeks, that listen, there was reports of a £500 million offer coming in from Saudi Arabia. Vast, vast, vast sums of money. But his hunger right now, of course it is to earn good money, but it's to win more trophies. He wants another Champions League. It ended up being frustration this season. He's not done in terms of Premier League title. He wants to go again next season. They've got a player who is still hungry for success on the pitch. How much will that have swayed things? Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at, you know, most salaries, but I mean, let's not get away from it. He's still getting paid an absolute fortune. Yeah, it might not be the Saudi money, but I mean, you look at the numbers that he's racked up already, he'll be wanting to break more records. I do think it's going to be very difficult to catch Alan Shearer. He's going to get a second, though, surely, isn't he? He could, but I mean, Harry Kane could also come back to the Premier League as well. You know, so you don't know. So, I mean, I think for Mohamed Salah and Liverpool, they'll just be absolutely delighted to get it done. I always felt as if, you know, the deal would be that we get it over the line because you cannot, in this day and age, and we speak about, you know, and I know Gary Neville spoke about, you know, the way that the Premier League's been robotic. And when you've got someone like that who does something off the cuff, who can do something off the cuff, who scores goals, you know, for me, I don't think there's, you know, that striker role. You know, Liverpool, Salah's off the right-hand side, but in terms of the forward players, there's no realist players you can say he's guaranteed to get you X amount of goals every single season. Salah does guarantee that. And for Liverpool, you know, if they're going to continue to challenge at the top end of the table, that's what they need. They need somebody who they can guarantee they know the start of next season, he's going to score goals. And, you know, for me, it's a great bit of business. I think with everything that was going at the time as well, obviously fighting in four competitions, when you've got Van Dijk, when you've got Salah tied down, there's an expectation now that Liverpool need to win. You know, when you sign those types of players, they need to win now. And there's not time to develop players. And, you know, I still get the feeling there will be, you know, a lot of change at Anfield in the summer. You know, it's probably the first time they've gone into the transfer market in a number of years now. Spend money. There's been links with Luis Diaz moving on. Nunes moving on. The last thing Liverpool needed was, you know, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander going as well. Because that's five players, four anyway, who have had a big impact in Liverpool's season. They're going to win the league. So, you know, it's a great bit of business for Liverpool. Yeah, and I think having those players as well, when you're looking at the recruitment in the summer, it's going to encourage players wanting to go, aren't they? Going, oh, well, we're going to be playing alongside Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, you know. So it's certainly good for Liverpool from that, when you're trying to draw players into the club. Does it change Trent Alexander's thoughts now as well? Yeah. Alexander-Arnold, does he now think, I don't think he will, but, you know, there might be a case. But that's an interesting point, isn't it? Because in terms of summer recruitment, if, as it looks like he's going to, Alexander-Arnold heads out of Anfield, in terms of the service he provides for Salah down that right, the way he can spray those passes around as well, they're going to have, he can't, Salah can't quite run in behind defences at the speed he used to. They're going to have to bring in players who can complement him and continue to be better than Salah. He's not exactly slow still, though, is he? Yeah, he does, but he's going to need that service. And we've seen in recent games when Alexander-Arnold's been into it. Do you know something? Strangely enough, though, I think if, you know, Liverpool have been criticised for that right back area. You know, it might free him up even more if Liverpool can get someone in who's maybe a better defender than Trent Alexander-Arnold. Maybe. Might free him up more because he doesn't mean, I know he doesn't track back as much right now, but if you've got somebody who you know is a solid defender, that's going to sit in there and defend, that allows, you know, Salah to maybe just end that cheating role half and half. I mean, what a pass that is. He looks quick there. By the way, yeah, I was thinking that there. Oh, he's definitely not. I hear what Simon's saying. Well, the one thing that's going to happen now in the next two years, he's not getting quicker. No, no. Whatever happens, he's going to get slower. And he's found a way of beating old father time. You're right. If I was playing right wing, I know I'd want to be playing at right back, Trent Alexander. I'd rather someone like him being playing there than an out-and-outs defender. Because at the end of the day, Salah doesn't come back. That's why he's been successful. You know, Slott's been clever. He's gone, you just stay up there. You win us football matches. You don't see him really defending on the edge of his box and having to run the length of the pitch. So he's changed his game and Slott's done well there. So he will miss Trent Alexander. One million percent. Because teams double up on Salah now. Because they won't have to worry about the right back. The right back won't hurt him like Trent Alexander can. So that player who marks Trent Alexander will drop back and stop Salah and double up. And they'll let that player have the ball. You can't do that with Trent Alexander. Because he will absolutely destroy you. But whoever comes and plays there now, they'll just double up. He'll find it hard next season. It will be harder next season. And he'll still score loads. The thing with Salah as well, you see when people speak about losing his pace now, how many times do we see it, you know exactly what he's going to do, but you just can't stop it. You know that when he's on the net and he'll just move it and then bend it away. It's very difficult to stop. Because he's not going to lose over that three, four yards. He ain't going to lose that. And that's enough just to get my yard to get shot on. But now that player who plays further up front will come back and sit there and they'll let that right back have the ball. Do you know what I mean? If you let Trent Alexander come and come and come and come, he either shoots or he puts the ball in a sixpence. So now you have to go and engage. And when you engage, he just passes the ball to Salah. He's one-on-one. And if he runs at someone more times than not, he'll destroy him. But now that changes. That changes. He's a good player, but he's not Trent Alexander. And we should just say he hasn't left yet. He is still a Liverpool player, Trent Alexander. Clinton, the foundations in terms of that defence will be built once again on Virgil van Dijk this season. Salah's decision to sign a new contract, do you think with van Dijk it's only a matter of time? Yeah, I think it's a matter of time. He could have probably done it on the same day, but he knew Salah was going to get more of the headlines. So Virgil said, let me wait a week or maybe a couple of weeks. They want their individual moments. Everyone wants it as a footballer. You wouldn't want to share the limelight, Clinton. No way. It's all about the individual. And he's been outstanding. He's been crucial to them. I think he's been brilliant this season. He's the main man. He leads by example. He's one of the best defenders around, even though he had a bad game last week against Fulham where he caused all kinds of problems. But I think he's so influential to this team, the way he organised it. And this, he has that in the lock-up. Virgil van Dijk is one of the best at centre-halves that can just ping a diagonal pass and he can attack the ball as well. He's just a complete defender. And it's someone you want. I know he's getting to that age, but in the centre-back position, he reads the game. So even if his pace slows down, he's already reading where the centre-forward is going to make his move. So I think he'll be a great sign. If they can sign him and Mo Salah, it's great, great, great business for Liverpool. Everybody's slowing down. As you get older, you do slow down. You've had more chefs last week than ever. Take it easy. The older you get, just slow down a bit. Paul Merson has, hasn't he? You know what? We've got no comeback now. It's like fourth day in five. This leads us on, not this particular conversation, to a question I'm going to ask. I'm going to start with you, Sue, as well. We've talked about these three, Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk and Salah and the contract situation pretty much the whole of the season. If you could only keep two out of those three, who do you keep? Tough one, isn't it? And I'm first, yeah. It's coming to you, Clinton. Oh, my goodness. Do you know what? See, I'm going to sit on the fence, but then I will answer it afterwards. You've got to say. You cannot sit on the fence, Sue. Not in that nice pink suit. Do you know why you're in a pink suit? Because all three have got different profiles, haven't they? So you think, well, of course you want Salah for his goals. The fence is creaking. Van Dijk because of his leadership and his quality of defending. Trent Alexander-Arnold, his ability on the ball is ridiculous. You can only keep two of the three. And he's younger as well, Trent Alexander-Arnold. OK, Salah and van Dijk. Salah and van Dijk. It was a Greek use as well. He's younger. You could argue for all three, couldn't you? That's the thing. Well, of course you could. But that would be a boring question. OK, those two. Boydie, who do you see yourself? Salah and van Dijk. Merse. I'm saying Salah and van Dijk because I think Trent Alexander's gone, but we're going to miss a special player. You think Salah's gone as well? Yeah, I thought they'd all go. I'm shocked any of them. I'm not shocked, but I just thought if you see your contract down, very rare you sign now. It's very, very rare. But I'm a massive fan of Trent Alexander. I'll miss watching him. I think he's an exceptional passer of the ball. He kept messaging me saying Salah's gone. So when Salah signed, I messaged him. I'll take you straight back at him. 1-0. Who were your two? Rather than scoring points, who were your two? I said van Dijk and Salah ages ago. I said it ages ago. If he came to me first, I said it ages ago. I've said that ages ago on this show months ago. Clip it up.