Mohamed Salah lined up move to Premier League rivals before Liverpool contract extension - Reports

Mohamed Salah had lined up a move to Chelsea if contract talks with Liverpool went sideways, according to The Sun.

The Blues' new owner Todd Boehly was interested in signing the attacker if Salah's negotiations with the Merseyside outfit had broken down. The 30-year-old winger had previously represented Chelsea from 2014 to 2016 after joining them from FC Basel.

After a long saga, the Egyptian superstar finally penned a three-year contract which will see him stay at Anfield until the summer of 2025. The new deal will see the 30-year-old winger pocket around £350,000 per-week in terms of wages.

The winger, along with his agent Ramy Abbas had made it clear about their plans to move clubs should they not get an improved offer. This threat proved to be one of the major reasons for offering Salah a new contract.

According to the aforementioned source, Liverpool had also thought about selling Mohamed Salah in the current transfer window for a fee of around £60 million. This would have been a better option instead of seeing their star forward leave on a free transfer at the end of the 2022-23 season.

It is worth mentioning that the Reds have already parted ways with one superstar forward this summer. Senegalese star Sadio Mane has joined Bayern Munich for a fee of around £35 million.

The club could therefore not afford to lose another star attacker in the same summer and that too to a Premier League rival like Chelsea. It would also have been a huge dent in the club's reputation if they had seen their superstar join a Premier League rival.

It is no secret that Liverpool follow a very strict wage structure which had seen Virgil van Dijk be their highest earner at around £225,000 per-week. However, the Reds have broken their structure for the 30-year-old winger. The owners have defended it saying that most of the wage increases are down to the Egyptian's image rights.

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Mohamed Salah will have a new strike partner at Liverpool for the 2022-23 season

Mohamed Salah will not partner Sadio Mane in attack for the first time in his Liverpool career. The Reds, however, have already signed a replacement in the form of Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez.

The 22-year-old forward has arrived at Anfield from Portuguese side SL Benfica for a fee that could rise to around £85 million.

Liverpool have also signed 19-year-old attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho from newly-promoted Fulham.

Apart from Nunez and Carvalho, the Reds still have Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz at their disposal.