Liverpool can use five players to fund eye-watering new Mo Salah contract

Mohamed Salah provided another reminder of why Liverpool need to tie him down to a new contract with a thumping match-winning goal against Brighton. The Egyptian cut inside onto his left foot and sealed a 2-1 win which took the Reds to the top of the Premier League.

Salah’s contract expires at the end of the season and there has been little indication that an extension is close. The 32-year-old – who is keen to remain in the Premier League and is at the peak of his powers – can seal a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club from January.

Liverpool may need to raise funds if Salah is to match or even increase his reported £350,000 salary. Express Sport looks at who could depart Anfield to boost the club’s budget for a lucrative new deal.

Wataru Endo

Liverpool have always done a good job of trimming fringe players from their squads for decent fees. Endo still has two-and-a-half years remaining on his deal, despite struggling to make an impact under Arne Slot.

The Reds might be able to recoup a fair chunk of the £12m they paid to Stuttgart to sign the defensive midfielder in the summer of 2023. That would go a long way to extending Salah’s contract.

Joe Gomez

Gomez falls under the same ‘fringe’ category as Endo. The defender appears to be fourth-choice for the centre-back position. Conor Bradley’s emergence means Gomez is no longer even the second-choice to play right-back, while Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas share the left-back berth.

Though he is a useful squad member who helps the homegrown quota, Gomez is probably Liverpool’s most dispensable player if they want to bring in a big fee.

Harvey Elliott

Elliott’s sale would be hugely unpopular given his Anfield favourite status. But if Salah stays and with little chance of a regular role in the central midfield position he often played under Jurgen Klopp, the 21-year-old needs to kick on elsewhere.

Liverpool would command a huge fee for Elliott – surely in the £30m-40m range given Arsenal’s sale of a similar player in Emile Smith Rowe for that kind of price.

Tyler Morton

Liverpool have a number of academy graduates ready for regular senior football – but are not quite good enough to feature prominently in Slot’s team. One of those is Morton, who has excelled in the Championship and could easily play for a bottom-half Premier League club.

The 22-year-old midfielder could make Liverpool a sizeable fee.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Invest all of Alexander-Arnold’s wages into Salah’s new contract? Absolutely. With the right-back seemingly no closer to signing a new deal of his own and the subject of strong interest from Real Madrid, it is imperative that Liverpool do not lose Salah too.