Before Mohamed Salah became the highest-paid player in Liverpool's history in the summer of 2022, then-director of research Ian Graham was tasked with establishing whether the Egyptian was really worthy of a lucrative contract extension.

Salah had already proven himself one of the best signings in Premier League history. After arriving at Anfield in June 2017, the £43 million ($56m) signing from Roma broke one record after another as he helped Jurgen Klopp's Reds win nearly every major honour in the game.

However, Salah was about to turn 30, an age at which many players - and particularly pacey forwards - began to show signs of decline. Consequently, Graham "went into the analysis fully expecting to say, 'Now is the time to sell.' But, to my surprise, it was instead 'Mo is going to keep producing for a couple of years and you can't replace Mo's level of performance.'"

Remarkably, little has changed in the interim. An injury-affected Salah may have suffered a slump towards the tail end of last season, but it's already clear after three rounds of the new Premier League season that, at 32, he remains the best - and most prolific - right-winger in world football.

Why, then, have Liverpool allowed the contract Salah signed in 2022 to enter its final year? And how is it even possible that such a valuable asset could be allowed to leave for nothing at the end of the season?

Not alone

Of course, Salah's situation isn't an anomaly at Anfield. Homegrown hero Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Virgil van Dijk have less than 10 months on their respective contracts, too. Even more incredibly, there has been no indication that any one of those players is close to signing an extension.

Alexander-Arnold has been politely declining interview requests to avoid discussing the issue with reporters, while Van Dijk has admitted that his contractual situation remains unchanged.

As for Salah, he revealed after scoring in Liverpool's 3-0 win at Manchester United just before the international break that nobody from the club has even spoken to him about a new deal - which is just absolutely staggering.

The FSG factor

While the current uncertainty over Alexander-Arnold's future makes zero sense and appears to be playing right into the hands of Real Madrid, Liverpool's apparent reluctance to tie down Van Dijk and Salah can be attributed to their advancing years.

Certainly, the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), have usually been reluctant to offer new, long-term contracts to players on the wrong side of 30. There have been very notable exceptions to the rules, though.

Indeed, it has been previously claimed that the decision to give Jordan Henderson a new, four-year contract in 2021 - which was backed by then-manager Jurgen Klopp - was contested by Michael Edwards, who promptly stepped down as sporting director.

'Internal disagreements'

"Henderson has given Liverpool sterling service, but the length of that deal was a surprise, contradicting FSG’s policies on players in their 30s," ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher wrote in The Telegraph. "There was an obvious change of tack after Klopp personally intervened following reports that Henderson might leave. 'We will sort it. No doubt about it,' Klopp said.

"Within 24 hours of an agreement, sporting director Michael Edwards was reported as considering his future, and has since left. The timing was probably coincidental, but there were strong suggestions – not contradicted – that there were internal disagreements about the length and value of Henderson’s extension."

It's, thus, entirely plausible that neither Edwards, who was appointed FSG's new CEO of football in March, nor new sporting director Richard Hughes would be in favour of handing either Van Dijk (33) or Salah (32) bumper new deals.

Certainly, those within the club that opposed the Henderson extension were validated in the long run, as it became clear that the midfielder could no longer cut it at the highest level during the 2022-23 campaign. Liverpool were ultimately very fortunate that the Saudi Pro League and Al-Ettifaq came calling for Henderson last summer.

Piling on the pressure

However, if the major players at Anfield really believe that Salah does not deserve a new contract, they should have tried to sell him during the summer. Another £150m ($196m) offer from the Middle East may have been too much to expect for a player with one year left on his contract, but there's absolutely no doubt that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) would have been willing to pay a sizeable sum for Salah had Liverpool made it clear that they were willing to sell their star forward. Instead, the Reds did nothing and have now lost all control over this situation.

Salah is unquestionably holding all the aces here - and it looks like he knows it too. As Daniel Sturridge recently noted on Sky Sports, Salah looks perfectly at ease with himself right now.

A full summer of rest has obviously played a significant part in his relaxed demeanour, on and off the field, but he must also be buoyed by the fact that he could not be in a better bargaining position in his "last year" at Liverpool.

'Getting better with age'

After last season's struggles caused by the injury he picked up at the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah is fully fit, fresh and firing on all cylinders. Furthermore, with each and every goal, he's piling ever more pressure on his employers to give him exactly what he wants - because it's obvious that we're talking about a freak of nature here. The man is just built differently.

"You can see the shape he's in," left-back Andy Robertson told The Daily Mail. "He is getting better with age in terms of his physical output and attributes. He is a big-game player. His goals and assists speak for themselves and he always shows up against our rivals.

"The minute he walked through this door he's set Anfield and other stadiums alight. He is a Premier League legend, of course he is, but still wants to write a few more stories..."

Salah has certainly given zero indication that he is keen to leave Liverpool. He certainly didn't look happy at the tail end of last season as Klopp's quadruple bid collapsed, but no sooner had the campaign ended than Salah was expressing his determination to "fight like hell" to win more trophies at Anfield.

Those clearly weren't empty words either. He has played like a man on a mission in the opening weeks of the new season, scoring in all three of Liverpool's games to date and looking eminently capable of netting 30 or more goals for the fifth time in eight years.

Still irreplaceable

Liverpool, then, have put themselves in quite the predicament. With Salah once again key to their hopes of winning silverware this season, there is absolutely no chance of them even considering a January exit.

Very few clubs in Europe would be willing to meet his wage demands either, while Salah evidently has little interest in moving to Saudi Arabia at this stage of his career, as he rightly believes that he can continue playing and flourishing at the highest level for years to come - a view shared by Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

"I don’t talk about contracts," the Dutchman said at Old Trafford, "but I can talk for hours about how Mo played today." Somebody at Liverpool needs to start talking about contracts, though - and soon, because the current situation is not just staggering, it's unacceptable.

Clarity is urgently required because the window of opportunity to cash in on Salah has now slammed shut and supporters deserve to know how Liverpool have ended up with just two choices: extend his contract now at considerable cost to the club or lose him for nothing next summer. Because the latter option is utterly unpalatable, particularly as it would only make the task of replacing Salah even more onerous.

As Graham asked the Liverpool ECHO, "Tell me a player who's going to do what Mo Salah has done for Liverpool since 2017?" And even if such a talent exists, would Liverpool really be able to afford him?

Graham still trusts the power-brokers at Liverpool "to make the right decision", but they've already got this all wrong. Salah's future should have been resolved long before the start of the current campaign.

So, while it's undeniably surprising that the winger remains irreplaceable more than two years after his last extension, the fact that he's not yet been given one is what's truly shocking here.