5 Liverpool players who deserve higher wages

Liverpool have one of the best squads in the world and as such have several star players in their team who are on hefty wages.

Virgil van Dijk recently became the club's highest-paid player after signing a new contract. He takes home £220,000-a-week in wages. He is followed by Mohamed Salah and Thiago Alcantara, who both have a salary of £200,000-a-week.

Local lad Trent Alexander-Arnold is the fourth-highest paid player at the club after signing a new contract in August. He has a salary of £180,000-a-week.

Some Liverpool players deserve better wages

Although Liverpool are not generally a club who pay huge wages, some players in their team have shown that they are not compensated enough for their performance on the field.

These players have played extremely well for the club since joining or breaking into the first team. Some of them could even make a stake for being the best in their position. However, these players do not earn the same amount as other players of similar caliber.

Here we take a look at five such Liverpool players who deserve higher wages:

#5 Mohamed Salah - £200,000

Liverpool FC v AC Milan: Group B - UEFA Champions League

Mohamed Salah has turned out to be quite a revelation in the Premier League since moving to Liverpool in 2017. He has been Liverpool's most prolific goalscorer and has scored 131 goals and provided 49 assists in just 210 appearances across all competitions for the Reds.

Salah took the league by storm in his debut season, scoring 32 league goals for Liverpool and winning the Premier League Golden Boot. He managed to score 44 goals overall, including 10 Champions League goals for the Reds.

The Egyptian also played a key part in Liverpool's Champions League win in 2019, registering five goals and two assists as the Reds lifted their sixth European trophy. He then contributed 19 goals and 10 assists the following season as the Reds won their first Premier League title in 30 years.

Salah is currently Liverpool's second-highest paid player with weekly wages of £200,000. While that might seem like a generous amount, it is quite small for someone like Salah.

The forward is arguably among the absolute best in the world right now and earns less than any other player of similar caliber. Therefore, the 28-year-old certainly deserves higher wages than the ones he is on right now.

#4 Sadio Mane - £100,000

Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Premier League

While Salah has certainly proven to be Liverpool's most important player, his counterpart Sadio Mane has also proven to be quite effective, if not the same as the Egyptian.

But the Senegalese earns just £100,000-a-week in wages. It only amounts to half of Salah's weekly wages at the moment.

Mane, 28, has developed into one of the leading forwards in world football since joining Liverpool from Southampton for around £34 million in 2016.

The winger has managed to score 100 goals and provide 43 assists in 225 games across all competitions since joining the Reds.

Alongside Salah, Mane played a crucial part in Liverpool's back-to-back Champions League and Premier League success. He registered four goals and three assists in Liverpool's Champions League winning campaign in 2019.

He also finished fourth in the Ballon d'Or rankings that year while clinching the African Footballer of the Year award the same year.

The following season, Mane directly contributed to 27 goals (18 goals and nine assists) as the Reds lifted the Premier League title after 30 years.

Mane is currently Liverpool's 12th highest paid player, even behind the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, who have barely made any significant contributions.

There are rumors of Mane being offered a new contract soon and he will certainly be hoping to get a significant increase in wages with this new deal.

#3 Joel Matip - £100,000

Another player who deserves higher wages at Liverpool is Cameroonian centre-back Joel Matip.

Matip, who joined Liverpool in 2016 has been a key asset in their defense for many years. Although the defender has struggled with injuries in the last two seasons, he has played an important role in Liverpool's rise as a force in the Premier League.

The 30-year-old was also a key part of the Champions League winning side in 2019, playing eight out of the Reds' thirteen matches in the tournament. He also starred for the Reds in the final.

Matip, however, could only muster nine appearances in the Premier League during Liverpool's title-winning season in 2019-20, as the 30-year-old was mostly out due to injuries.

Like Liverpool's other centre-backs, he suffered a similar fate last season and was mostly injured throughout the campaign.

But Matip has returned from injury for the 2021-22 season and looks like the defender is getting back to his best. Alongside Virgil van Dijk, the centre-back has managed to keep three clean sheets in five Premier League games for the Reds. He now looks set to be the first-choice partner for Van Dijk ahead of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.

Although Matip has had to face injuries in the past two seasons, he has shown enough quality to prove that he deserves better wages.

#2 Diogo Jota - £90,000

While Diogo Jota is yet to win any trophies at Liverpool, his performances since joining the Reds have shown enough to say he deserves more than his current wages.

Jota arrived at Liverpool last season from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported fee of around £40 million. He was signed to provide depth and competition to Liverpool's famed attacking trio of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. The Portuguese winger did just that.

In a season where Liverpool's attack struggled to find the net, Jota proved a valuable asset for the Reds, scoring some crucial goals during his debut season. Jota's all-round play impressed Jurgen Klopp to such an extent that the likes of Firmino and Mane had to be dropped from the playing eleven to accommodate him.

Jota managed to score 13 goals in 30 appearances for the Reds and if not for injuries, his numbers could have been more impressive.

The forward has started five of Liverpool's six Premier League games this season, managing to keep Firmino out of the starting eleven.

Jota's current contract sees him earn weekly wages of £90,000. But the winger certainly deserves higher wages than this considering the fact that he is now first-choice at Liverpool

#1 Curtis Jones - £7,500

Norwich City v Liverpool - Carabao Cup Third Round

Curtis Jones is easily the most underpaid player at Liverpool right now, with the youngster earning just £7500-a-week in wages.

The academy graduate made his Premier League debut for the Reds during the 2019-20 season but played just six games in the league.

However, with Liverpool struggling with injuries last season, Jones was used more often in midfield by Jurgen Klopp. The youngster made 24 league appearances during the season, taking a significant step towards becoming a first-team regular.

The 20-year-old's passing ability shone through as he completed 966 passes during the season with an incredible success rate of 92 per cent.

While Jones is still a squad player at Liverpool, the weekly wages of just £7,500 does not do justice to the contributions from the youngster. This is considering the fact that the likes of Adrian and Neco Williams earn significantly more wages despite playing less.

Jones will certainly be hoping to get a significant rise in wages soon, having shown his quality in the last few months.