GREAT NEWS: Tottenham has a final talk with Liverpool…….

As the star player for Liverpool nears the last 18 months of his contract, one Premier League rival has just revealed Mohamed Salah’s real value.

Jürgen Klopp has been Liverpool’s manager since October 8, 2015, and he has been in the position for eight years and 38 days. This puts him ahead of Pep Guardiola of Manchester City (seven years and 137 days) as the longest-serving manager in the Premier League. He is also the third-longest serving manager in the top four divisions of English football, behind John Coleman of Accrington Stanley (nine years, 58 days) and Simon Weaver of Harrogate Town (14 years, 178 days).

Additionally, Klopp spent a considerable amount of time—by today’s standards—at his previous club, Borussia Dortmund, from the summer of 2008 to the end of the 2014–15 campaign. There will inevitably be a lot of player turnover at a club where you spend so much time, but there also usually are a few

mainstays. At Dortmund, Klopp’s most-used player was goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller (25,156 minutes), closely followed by center-back Neven Subotić (25,107 minutes).

Ever since he left Signal Iduna Park, those two players have remained at the top of the German’s all-time usage list. That is until this season, when Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah finally surpassed them. As per This is Anfield’s Jack Lusby, Salah has now moved out into a clear lead on 26,337 minutes, clearing Weidenfeller, Subotić and Roberto Firmino, who was previously Klopp’s most-used Liverpool player at 25,095 minutes.

Salah, impressively, has reached this milestone in six seasons and a third of a seventh, while Weidenfeller and Subotić both worked under Klopp for seven full campaigns and Firmino played for him for nearly eight.

If you break it down into individual campaigns, you can see how the Egyptian raced to the top so quickly. In each of his six full seasons to date, Salah has surpassed 4,000 minutes for the club and ranked inside the top three outfielders for playing time. Last year, he topped that particular table for the first time on 4,301 minutes, and he currently leads the way this term too at 1,262 (though his commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations in the winter could prevent him from staying there).

Since Salah arrived from Roma, Liverpool has played 352 matches in all competitions and, remarkably, the winger has been on the pitch 83 per cent of the time. This is a result of his virtually non-existent injury-record at Anfield, which partly comes down to luck (even the most bulletproof players are in the firing line in a robustly physical sport) but largely speaks to a perfect fitness regime and lifestyle. Very few can match Salah’s commitment to staying in peak condition and his understanding of what his body needs.

Some would argue that Salah’s record usage is actually a reason not to give him a new contract, and sell him to Saudi Pro League suitor Al-Ittihad instead. Surely, that argument goes, the load will take its toll eventually?

But Klopp has already indicated why it is unlikely to be the case. He stated last month, via Optus Sport, “I think if we scan him the majority of the bones are probably 19 or 20 because he just keeps in such good shape.” “I cannot compare Mo to other 30-odd-year-old players because I don’t think biologically

With 17 games this season, Salah has scored 12 goals and contributed four assists, and he still appears to be in top form. In other words, Liverpool would be getting a lot more value for their money than you would typically expect from a 31-year-old if they were to offer him another record-breaking contract—the kind that will be required to persuade him to stay. As it is a player who, based on his track record, can play virtually every meaningful game for the duration of that deal.

It may look like a bad business decision at the most basic level, but the normal rules have to be discarded when it comes to a borderline freak of nature like Salah.

“Every season he scores 20/25 goals and gets 20 assists,” Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski tells TNT Sports. “Unbelievable player, year after year, and you can see how hard he works. He’s a great player and one of the best in the history of the Premier League.”

One of the reasons he’s able to produce those numbers ‘year after year’ is because he’s almost always available, and because he works so ‘hard’ off the field to make sure that’s the case. As time goes on, the case to go all-out to extend Salah’s contract grows stronger and stronger, and the counterarguments, which were on shaky ground anyway, begin to crumble.