Former Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has confirmed that Mo Salah is currently “closer to leaving than staying” at Anfield.

Lovren struck up a close friendship with the Egyptian during his time at the club and speaking to WinWin, the Croatian said talks over a new deal are not progressing smoothly:

“Salah believes that there are things missing from the club side, and I hope they’ll be resolved soon. But the current reality is that he’s closer to leaving than staying.”

“Everyone wants him to stay, and I personally want him to stay. I called him one day and said: ‘Mo, you have to think about yourself. Look at everything you’ve given this club and what you can still give’.”

“In the end, I came to the conclusion that the club doesn’t respect him enough, or at least not as much as they think they deserve, but that’s another side of the story, it’s all about what goes on behind the scenes.”

Liverpool are reluctant to give Salah what he wants

Due to the 32-year-old’s age, it’s more than likely that the Reds have only offered him a short-term contract and they may even have proposed to pay him less than the £350,000 a week that he is currently earning.

Considering Salah is arguably playing some of the best football of his career at the moment, you can understand why he would feel he is being disrespected by the club.

Negotiations have not progressed over the past 6 weeks

Based on what Lovren is saying, it appears there has been no breakthrough in talks since Salah last spoke out about his contract back in late December.

When asked about his situation following the 5-0 win over West Ham, the 32-year-old said he was “far away” from signing an extension. As things stand, he will leave on a free transfer at the start of July.

Find out who is in Liverpool’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here