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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Andrew Beasley

Mohamed Salah has big advantage that may explain his new Liverpool contract

"I know Mo is very, very happy that we found an agreement [contract]. We were his club before he signed a new contract, now we are definitely his club and that feels pretty good."

Jurgen Klopp's words this weekend make it very clear how Mohamed Salah is feeling after sealing his new deal at Anfield. And now the Egyptian king will aim to do something in 2022/23 which hasn’t been achieved by a Liverpool player for three decades. He will be looking to score at least 20 goals when starting the season aged in his thirties.

In reality, Salah will be gunning to score far more goals than that. As he’s averaged 31 a year across his five seasons with the club, why shouldn’t he?

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History shows players of his age don’t often hit such heights with the Reds though. Some of it will be down to leaving the club before they reached their fourth decade. Luis Suarez scored 31 goals in all competitions at the same age that Salah is now, it just happened to be in his fourth campaign with Barcelona.

But the fact remains that Ian Rush was the last player to break the 20-goal mark when in his thirties, which he achieved back in 1992/93. Were it not for his four goals in the final two matches of the season, we’d have to go back to Kenny Dalglish. He was 31 years old at the start of the 1982/83 campaign, scoring his 20th and final goal of the season in his 53rd appearance.

Times have changed though. Players look after themselves far better than they used to in years gone by, with advances in fitness, injury prevention and recovery all extending careers further than ever before. Considering the demands placed upon footballers, they need all the help they can get.

Per Transfermarkt, Salah made 66 appearances for club and country last season, the joint-ninth most of any player in world football. Thanks to Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final and Egypt’s exploits in both the Africa Cup of Nations and their World Cup qualification play-off, the Reds’ number 11 played 120 minutes on six occasions too.

Will the 88 hours of football he played last season take a toll? You’d have to assume that it would, though the mid-season break Salah will enjoy during the World Cup will obviously help him. As a recent article on The Athletic revealed, there is another reason to believe that he will not be finished at the top level any time soon.

They created age curves, to illustrate how the minutes a player gets each season changes in relative terms depending on their age. It’s based on league football only, so won’t account for Salah’s many matches in the Champions League or on the international stage, but it does highlight an aspect of his pre-Liverpool career which tends to be forgotten now.

The Egyptian has barely missed a Liverpool match over the last five seasons, except for when playing for his country or being rested for a less important fixture. Salah has been unavailable for just seven games due to illness or injury, which is remarkable considering his exertions week after week.

As the chart from The Athletic shows, though, prior to joining the Reds at the age of 25, Salah had played far less league football than would be expected of a forward in England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain. It wasn’t until he was 23 that he played over 1,000 minutes in one of Europe’s top five leagues, or more than 1,500 minutes in any league. With far less football in his legs than many contemporaries, he should be able to go on at the top level far further into his thirties.

Having given him a new three-year contract on improved terms, Liverpool clearly don’t expect Salah’s pitch time to decrease any time soon. Klopp confirmed as much when he spoke of his delight at his leading scorer signing his new deal. “Fitness-wise, he’s a machine – in the most incredible shape,” he said. “He works hard on it and he gets his rewards.”

The Reds will hope their faith in Salah’s fitness will be rewarded too. His career to date suggests they should have no concerns.

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