Mohamed Salah contract: Liverpool star's evolution and age-defying numbers in Premier League show new deal was no-brainer

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Following the news that Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool, Pete Sharland dives into the numbers to try and illustrate just how incredible the Egyptian has been this season. Not only is Salah producing at an elite level, he is doing it at an age that just simply is not normal. Signing Salah to an extension was the only logical outcome.

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In the end the news was hardly surprising.

For some fans who do not support Liverpool it might have elicited nothing more than an eyebrow raise, but it is now official that Mohamed Salah has signed a new contract to stay at Anfield until 2027.

The fact that we went from genuine uncertainty about whether or not the Egyptian would leave for free at the end of a season where Liverpool are poised to win the league, to a near-guarantee that he would sign between the reports earlier this week and the end of the season is remarkable.

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Fundamentally, Liverpool deserve credit for realising what it would mean should Salah leave and recognising that despite now being 35 at the end of this contract, he is so special of a player that he is worth keeping around, even if keeping older players is not always the most logical decision.

But the data suggests it might be. This season in the Premier League, Salah has scored 27 goals and registered 17 assists for a total combined goals + assists (G+A) of 44.

Per Opta, across Premier League history only twice has a higher G+A been achieved. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer both reached 47 in the 1993/94 and 1994/95 seasons respectively.

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There are two really interesting points to pick up from that. The first is obvious, if you know your Premier League history, the early seasons were 42 games not 38. Cole did his in 40 games and Shearer the full 42. Salah has done it so far in 31 and can still get the full 38 under his belt, but obviously there is a pretty good chance that with seven games remaining he will blow past both of them in far fewer games.

The other is the age of other big names on this list. Opta provided the top 10 seasons in Premier League history in terms of G+A, here are the ages of those players at the end of the season and how many G+A they ended up with.

Player	Season	Games	Goals	Assists	Goals + Assists	Age
Andrew Cole	1993/1994	40	34	13	47	22
Alan Shearer	1994/1995	42	34	13	47	24
Thierry Henry	2002/2003	37	24	20	44	25
Erling Haaland	2022/2023	35	36	8	44	22
Mohamed Salah	2024/2025	31	27	17	44	32
Luis Suarez	2013/2014	33	31	12	43	27
Mohamed Salah	2017/2018	36	32	10	42	25
Thierry Henry	2004/2005	32	25	14	39	27
Didier Drogba	2009/2010	32	29	10	39	32
Robin van Persie	2011/2012	38	30	9	39	28

The only player to do this above the age of 30 aside from Salah is Didier Drogba in the 2009-10 season, who remarkably did that in just 32 matches. Salah is five G+A ahead of Drogba having played one fewer game this season. Salah is two G+A ahead of himself from SEVEN YEARS AGO having played five games fewer.

The final interesting aspect from this table is the assists. Salah, so long known as a goalscorer, has more assists than anyone in this list, excluding Henry’s frankly absurd 2002/03 when he registered 20+ in both goals and assists.

Henry is the only player to ever achieve this feat in the Premier League. With seven games to go Salah is on course to create yet another slice of history. Again, Henry did this at 25, Salah is seven years older.

In all competitions Salah has 22 assists - the first time in his Liverpool career he has gone over 20. In his first two seasons combined he had 25, and there is a good chance he goes past that number before this season ends.

Salah’s evolution as a creator has been fascinating to watch. Do not forget, Roberto Firmino noted in his book that Salah's laser focus on scoring had frustrated team-mates during the early stages of his career.

Being tarnished with that brush always felt harsh and the numbers bear that out, but this Salah, older and wiser, is visibly more interested in creating for team-mates than we have seen in the past.

This is particularly interesting when you listen to some of the transfer rumours coming out of the club. It is clear that the club want to find more goals, be that at the striker position or No. 10, or indeed both.

Whether this is the club looking to lighten the load on Salah or a recognition of how his game is evolving, or again both, it is fascinating to watch one of the best pure goalscorers the Premier League has ever seen evolve into a truly elite creator.

Remember this, no player across Europe – not just England – has more than Salah’s 17 league assists this season. The next highest is Lamine Yamal with 11, SIX FEWER. He has six goals compared to Salah’s 27. Only five other players across Europe have reached double-digits for assists, and none of them have reached the same tally for goals.

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Salah’s first season back in England with Liverpool was nothing short of astonishing - 44 goals in all competitions at 94 minutes per goal is something we might never see him achieve again.

But do you want to know something funny? In his first season across all competitions, Salah finished with 58 G+A. He has never gone past 50 again, until this season. With seven games to go Salah has 54 G+A in all competitions.

Here’s another, in his first season he went 71 minutes for every goal or assist. He has never gone under 80 minutes per goal or assist in all competitions since then. This season he is at 72 minutes.

Statistically speaking, this is almost certainly going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, seasons of Salah’s career.

Yes, offering a multi-year contract to any player over 30 in any sport is always scary for management groups, but letting Salah walk could have been a historically bad decision.

No player has done what Salah is doing in the Premier League. He is one of one, and this new contract was the only logical decision.

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