Michael Owen believes that one thing is stalling contract negotiations between Liverpool and their prized asset Mohamed Salah.
Salah scored two goals at the weekend to rescue a 3-2 win for his side against Southampton and extend their lead at the top of the table.
However, despite his electric start to the season, the Egyptian still faces an uncertain future with the Reds with his contract set to expire at the end of the season.
And the 32-year-old was keen to vent his frustration after Sunday’s match, telling reporters he had yet to receive an offer for a new deal and that he was ‘disappointed’ by the lack of dialogue.
‘We are almost in December and I haven’t received an offer to stay at the club yet so I am probably more out than in,’ Salah said.
‘I’m not going to retire soon. I’m focusing on the season and I’m trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League as well. I’m disappointed but we will see.’
While the comments drew criticism from Reds legend Jamie Carragher, Owen, who himself turned down a new contract at Anfield to sign with Real Madrid in 2004, suggested the reason there had been no breakthrough in negotiations was down to one simple thing.
‘I think fans around the world will be very annoyed at the club,’ Owen told Optus Sport. ‘If that’s the case – and I can’t imagine Mo Salah is going to lie – then it’s really bad from the club’s point of view.
‘My inkling, and I might be wrong, but what I hear is that Mo Salah is wanting a longer-term contract.
‘When you’re young, you want short contracts, keep the desirability, keep them short and keep everybody wanting you. When you’re older of course you want stability and you want to be secure.
Owen continued: ‘He’s very different – he’s as fit as fiddle and he’s still banging them in. But if he’s going in [to negotiations] and asking for five years then rightly so the club will think that’s too long.
‘So maybe they’re not even sitting down because Mo has said ‘Well I’m not going to talk to you if you are not going to give you five years”, let’s say.
‘And I don’t know entirely but my sources tell me it’s more of a term problem.
‘One thing that Mo Salah has got the head start on is he’s just done that interview and straight away the fans are going to be thinking, “What are you doing, Liverpool Football Club”.’
It is not just Salah who faces an uncertain future in Arne Slot’s side, with key defensive duo Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold both free to talk to other clubs in January as their respective contracts run down.
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