The reporter reported coldly At 8 a.m. on April 9, Liverpool time, Liverpool's official social media officially announced Salah's contract renewal, and this 9-month-long soap opera finally ended with a happy ending. Salah, who will turn 33 in the summer, has a career contract of £400,000 a week, and can continue to chase more trophies, records and the Ballon d'Or; On the eve of winning the Premier League, Liverpool left behind the core superstar of the team's iterative transition in the next two years; At the same time, the Premier League has also left behind a new legend who is destined to break many records, creating an ambassador for the "First League".

Salah's contract extension negotiations were arduous, but fortunately it was a win-win situation for the player, the club and the Premier League.

After 9 months of gambling, the dust has settled

When Liverpool FC's social media officially announced Salah's contract renewal, he used the original words he hinted at leaving in November last year. At that time, Salah said that he was "more out than in (go more than stay)", this time the official announcement of the renewal photo, under the night light on the red carpet, Salah sat on the golden throne in the Anfield stadium, with the opposite text "more in than out (stay more than out)".

Behind Liverpool's official relaxed ridicule is the unremitting efforts of sports director Chad Hughes for more than 9 months.

After Liverpool's 3-0 win over Manchester United in September and Southampton's 3-2 win over Southampton in November last year, Salah has publicly stated that he is undecided, using the phrase "more than to stay". Salah spoke for the third time earlier this year about renewing his contract, urging Liverpool to move forward with negotiations as soon as possible. In fact, Hughes, the new sporting director, had called Salah's agent, Abbas, in July last year to discuss a contract extension. Hughes visited Dubai twice in September and October last year, but both failed to return. The real turning point was that at the beginning of December last year, Liverpool finally made an offer to renew his contract, and at the same time, Manchester City's sky-high contract renewal Haaland in January, and then Neymar left Saudi Arabia, which became an accelerator for Salah's contract renewal.

Haaland's contract extension provides the criteria for salary negotiations, as Salah has outperformed Haaland this season and has a shorter contract that allows for higher pay. With Liverpool's lead in the Premier League solidifying and manager Slot's open retention, there was a breakthrough in negotiations. After Liverpool assessed the salary space allowed by the Financial Fair Play Act, Salah was offered a major two-year, £400,000-a-week contract. Liverpool's cost of more than £50 million over the next two years in exchange for Manchester City to continue to compete with Manchester City and complete the team's metabolism smoothly is not too much. Hughes' retention of the cornerstone of Liverpool's transition period over the next two years is in line with Fenway Group's future-building strategy. The extension of Salah's contract became Hughes's second major achievement since signing Slot last summer.

Liverpool and Salah's team have kept the contract renewal secret almost until the end, and when the Chinese and British media suddenly revealed that Salah might renew his contract last week, the Egyptian had completed the shooting and interview of the official announcement of the contract renewal in the night. So on the morning of April 9 local time, Liverpool fans received a surprise.

Achievement of the legend, choose to stay

Salah's reason for renewing his contract is simple: to stay in order to cement his status as a legend for Liverpool and the Premier League. He has already won the 'Grand Slam' with eight trophies in all seven competitions with Liverpool, but Salah believes he still has at least three years at his peak and deserves more trophies. In order to maintain his condition, he has two gyms at home, as well as an ultra-low temperature cold therapy cabin and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which is comparable to Ronaldo in the use of high-tech recovery equipment. In the pre-season fitness test, the 32-year-old Salah beat all his team-mates, which was also a decisive factor in Liverpool's contract extension with his high salary.

Salah's 32 goals, 23 assists and 55 goals in 46 games this season are close to his 2017/18 record (44 goals, 15 assists and 59 goals in 51 games), and his form is not inferior to his younger self eight years ago. He has 27 goals, 18 assists and 45 goals in 32 Premier League games this season, just two goals short of the Premier League record. Liverpool have seven Premier League games to go, and there is little doubt about breaking the record held by Andy Cole and Shearer.

Salah, who has two more years to play, could break at least five records if nothing else. Salah has 87 assists in the Premier League, just five short of Gerrard's all-time Premier League assist record. The Egyptian is third on Liverpool's all-time scorer list (243 goals), just 42 goals shy of Roger Hunt (285) in second place. Although he still has 103 goals with Ian Rush (346 goals), considering that Liverpool will be in a number of competitions in the next two seasons, it is not impossible for Salah to become Liverpool's all-time "double king" of goals and assists if he can maintain his form.

He has scored 103 goals at Anfield, behind only Sergio Aguero (106, Etihad) and Thierry Henry (114, Highbury), and it is unlikely that he will set a single home Premier League goal record after his contract extension. Mohamed Salah (184) is tied with Sergio Aguero for fifth place in the Premier League's all-time scorer list, and one more goal will be the Premier League's all-time Golden Boot. Salah is only 76 goals away from Shearer, the Premier League's all-time Golden Boot (260 goals), and it is also very likely that he will hit the Premier League's all-time top scorer after renewing his contract.

Salah has won the Premier League Player of the Season Grand Slam as voted by the Premier League, the Journalists' Association, the players' union and fans, as well as the BBC and AFF African Footballer of the Year award. However, Salah's highest ranking at the Ballon d'Or is only 5th in 2019 and 2022, with less than 1/4 of the winner's Lionel Messi and even far less than club teammates Virgil van Dijk and Mane. In 2022, the score was only 1/5 of that of the winner Benzema, who lost to club teammate Sadio Mane again.

UEFA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah finished third in 2017/18 and lost to team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane in 2018/19. FIFA Player of the Year award, he was ranked 3rd twice in 2018 and 2021. In the next two years, Salah hopes to become only the second African player to win the Ballon d'Or and FIFA's best award since Weah, and the first player from an Arab country to win two awards.

In addition, Salah has the ambition to become a true Egyptian football king. Hassan, Egypt's all-time best player, leads the team in both appearances and goals scored by the national team, leading the team to three Africa Cup of Nations titles, and also won the 1992 Arab national team title. Both have led to a World Cup once, but Salah finished runners-up in both the 2017 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and if he can lead Egypt to the World Cup again this year, Salah will become the true king of the game. And he is just nine goals shy of Hassan's Egyptian record for goals (69), and it is only a matter of time before he becomes Egypt's all-time Golden Boot.