Mohamed Salah has handed Liverpool fresh cause for concern as he is questioning his treatment at the club compared to that of Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City, according to reports.
Salah, 29, is out of contract at Anfield in the summer of 2023 and negotiations over a new deal have made very little progress.
The Egyptian forward has been the Reds' most-important source of goals since joining the club in 2017 and has been in stunning form this season with eight goals in as many games.
Salah has not been handed improved terms since 2018 and Mirror Sport exclusively reported last month he is seeking a contract worth £500,000 per week.
He feels this would reflect his importance to Jurgen Klopp's side as well as his status as one of the best players in Europe.
But such a deal would require Liverpool to rip up their existing wage structure, with Virgil van Dijk currently the club's top earner on £220,000 per week.
Understandably, the Anfield hierarchy have a crucial decision to make regarding a player who will be 31 by the time his current deal expires in just under two years' time.
Salah has been left aghast by recent delays, however, as he would like to remain at the club and feels he is simply seeking a deal he deserves.
That is according to The Athletic , who add that Salah has been comparing his situation to that of De Bruyne, another of the Premier League's biggest stars.
City chiefs handed the Belgium midfielder a contract worth £400,000 in April this year, making him the top-flight's highest earner at the time in the process.
Does Mohamed Salah deserve a new contract at Liverpool worth far more than Kevin De Bruyne's at Manchester City? Have your say in the comments.
Remarkably, De Bruyne used data analysts rather than an agent to negotiate the deal, which will keep him at the Etihad until 2025.
Salah, meanwhile, is represented by Ramy Abbas Issa, who is no stranger to sending a terse message to Liverpool.
The latest of these came after Salah reached 100 Premier League goals for the Reds in record speed during the 3-3 draw with Brentford last weekend.
The agent responded to a Twitter post labelling his client "a bonafide Anfield legend" by simply replying "Yep".
Reds hero Jamie Carragher shares the opinion Salah is a Liverpool legend and reiterated the need to tie him down to a new contract earlier this week.
Discussing the Egypt international, he told the Daily Telegraph : "Surely once you have helped nurture one of the world’s best - and made him a positive global symbol of your club - you want to cherish that and channel resources to keep him for all of his peak, goalscoring years?"
