Mohamed Salah has signed a new three-year contract with Liverpool.

BBC Sport understands the deal - worth more than £350,000-a-week - makes the 30-year-old the highest paid player in the club's history.

The Egypt forward only had a year left on his previous deal and there had been doubts about whether he would stay.

"It's the best decision for us and best decision for him. He belongs with us I think. This is his club now," said Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.

"This is a special treat for our supporters to enjoy their weekend even more. I'm sure there will be some celebrations for this news tonight."

Salah has scored 156 goals in 254 appearances during his five years at Anfield since moving from Roma.

The wide player said: "I feel great and I am excited to win trophies with the club. It's a happy day for everyone. We are in a good position to fight for everything."

Salah has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup during his time at Anfield.

He has also won or shared three Premier League Golden Boots and been named the PFA player of the year twice while with Klopp's side.

"I have no doubt Mo's best years are still to come. And that's saying something, because the first five seasons here have been the stuff of legend," said Klopp.

The renewal comes as a big boost after the departure of fellow forward Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich this summer.

Liverpool won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season but were in the running for a quadruple until the final week of the season, falling just short in the Premier League and losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid.

They have recruited Benfica and Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez for an initial £64m to offset the loss of Mane.

"It takes a little bit of time, I think, to renew, but now everything is done so we just need to focus on what's next," said former Chelsea forward Salah.

"I think you can see in the last five or six years the team was always going [upwards]. Last season we were close to winning four, but unfortunately in the last week of the season we lost two trophies.

"We have new signings as well. We just need to keep working hard, have a good vision, be positive and go for everything again."

Talks had been drawn out but they accelerated over recent days and a Reds delegation, led by new sporting director Julian Ward, travelled to meet Salah on his summer holiday to get the contract signed.

Mike Gordon, president of Fenway Sports Group, which owns the club, also played a key role in negotiations.

Gordon and Ward had face-to-face talks with Salah in Miami around the turn of the year and these were significant as this was when the broad structure of the deal was discussed.

Salah's priority was to stay at Liverpool and the club's was to keep him as areas of the contract continued to be ironed out.

The Egypt international made it clear he would not countenance being sold and his stance was to either renew or leave on a free at the end of the contract which this has superseded and was due to expire in summer 2023.

The contract is structured in a way which fits within Liverpool's current model but also rewards individual performance.

It is essentially built on reward for the level of goals and goal involvements Salah contributes.

This also keeps another key figure in Liverpool's success at the club as, in April, manager Jurgen Klopp and his team extended their deals with the club until 2026.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1350 HRS, JUL 02, 2022
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