Former Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian San Miguel has tipped Mohamed Salah to extend his stay at Anfield, stating that the Egyptian forward “loves Liverpool” despite interest from Saudi Arabia last year.
Adrián, who played alongside Salah for five years, believes that a new contract would be the best outcome for both the player and the club.
Salah is currently in the final year of the contract he signed in the summer of 2022.
However, there has been little public progress on negotiations, with Salah recently confirming, prior to the international break, that talks over a new deal have yet to begin.
During their time together at Liverpool, Adrian and Salah won five major trophies, including the Premier League title in 2020.
The Spanish goalkeeper, who joined Real Betis on a free transfer this summer, shed light on the heavy interest in Salah from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad last year.
The Saudi Pro League champions had reportedly made a bid worth up to £150 million, which was turned down by Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.
Despite the lucrative offer, Adrián revealed that Salah was always keen to stay at Liverpool.
In an interview with Egypt’s winwin.com, Adrian expressed confidence that his former teammate will commit his future to the Reds.
Since joining Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017, Salah has scored an impressive 214 goals, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League era.
“I don’t really know [about Saudi interest], this is a question for Mohamed Salah but obviously the reports and rumours were there, the news and the newspapers said so, but I saw that he was happy at the club,” Adrian said.
“Obviously that happened last year when we were together, and we talked about it, but it was clear that he wanted to stay at the club.
“As I said, he is now in the last year of his contract with the club, I don’t know if they have already started talking to him about renewing the contract or opening the way for him to leave the club, but I can’t see Mohamed Salah currently outside Liverpool.
“He will decide in the end, it is a personal and family decision for him, and I wish him all the best, and whatever he decides will be the best option.
“Honestly, I was joking a little, but if Mohamed Salah wants to join Real Betis, the door is already open for him!
“It’s his final year on his contract with Liverpool, I know the group there loves him, the fans love him, he loves the group and the city, the experience he had at Liverpool is huge.
“I can’t see Mohamed Salah playing for another team in the Premier League, so obviously if he has the opportunity to renew at Liverpool, the best chance and the best option is to stay at the club and continue as one of the most experienced players in the dressing room.
“In terms of the shirt (given before the pre-season friendly in Pittsburgh), I have a good relationship with Mohamed Salah as well as most of the players in the dressing room, that day we were going to play against them, and after the meeting at the hotel, I wanted to give him a gift as well as Kostas Tsimkas, who is a good friend.
“Clearly I don’t know if he had the idea of coming to Spain in his head.
“I hope Mohamed Salah will perform great this season, and be a focus at Liverpool, because he is still under contract there.
“Mo [has] got what he deserved to be honest, because he is one of the most professional players to share the dressing room with, he is the first to arrive at training and the last to leave, he is really a professional in times of recovery, in nutrition, in training, he is also very smart in his life, at the end of the day, we are footballers, and it is not just two or three hours a day, we are footballers for 24 hours a day.
“Mo deserves the statistics and numbers he has achieved, he is one of the best players in the world, one of the best wingers, one of the best goal-scoring players, one of the best goal-makers, all the players have ups and downs but I think that Mohamed Salah staying at this level for many years is a great thing, my relationship with him is great, he is very friendly, he shares many great moments with us, he will forever be a friend in football.”
On whether Salah did not get on with former team-mate Sadio Mane, Adrian added: “These situations with Sadio Mane (disagreement at Burnley in 2019), it was only on the pitch, but in the dressing room, in the gym and off the pitch in general the relationship was good between them.
“All the players on the pitch especially the strikers want to score goals, they are also a little selfish, of course we are selfish because we always want to play, as we know that only 11 players can play, and the number is probably 25 players on the list, so in the end Mo and Sadio were just excited to score goals in every game and go for more and more goals, so was Roberto Firmino the No.9 striker and he was also scoring goals.
“In the end these things happen On the pitch and it’s normal, you are motivated and you want to score and win and these situations end and go away after the game, in the dressing room and off the pitch I saw them as great players and very professional and nothing more.”
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