Richard Hughes' monumental Mo Salah error has cost Liverpool at least £70m

Mohamed Salah is leaving Liverpool.

The Egyptian King announced on Tuesday that he would be exiting Anfield at the end of the season.

It will bring the curtain down on nine years of unparalleled individual and collective success - with Salah surely going down as one of the greatest players in club history.

The exact terms of the departure are yet to be revealed. But reliable Liverpool sources report that Salah will be leaving on a free transfer.

It looks like the two-time African footballer of the year has reached a termination agreement for his £400k+ per week contract - inked almost exactly a year ago and due to last until 2027.

Whatever way you slice it that decision from Richard Hughes to renew Salah’s deal looks like a disaster.

Liverpool's Mo Salah contract disaster

If Salah were able to maintain his standards from the first two-thirds of the 2024/25 season it would be one thing.

The forward ended up delivering 29 goals and 18 assists in the Premier League alone - maybe the best-ever individual campaign in the top flight’s history.

But how sustainable was that form really?

Salah was showing signs of slowing down - or being isolated - as early as the Paris Saint-Germain elimination in the Champions League knockouts and the EFL Cup final defeat to Newcastle.

Hughes is paid handsomely to weigh up these decisions and act accordingly. He’s failed.

Salah hasn’t been at his best this season - and was even at one stage banished from the squad owing to a high-profile fallout.

Whether that’s from a terminal decline or misuse however is still very much up for debate. But Liverpool offered Salah a pay-rise from his already wallet-busting deal- with some reports claiming he is making even more than £400k per week.

Over the course of a two-year contract that represents over £40m in wages alone before bonuses and other add-ons are factored in.

Do you see any wingers at the top level who will be making that kind of money on their 35th birthday?

£20m in wages + £50m transfer fee wasted

Hughes however tied Liverpool into that contract - stretching what is already English football’s highest wage bill even further.

The sensible decision - if admittedly the most difficult at the time - was to wave Salah off into the sunset last summer with his place in history assured.

Leading Liverpool to the title - and winning every conceivable individual honour - was the honourable way out. Instead it looks like Slot nor Hughes know quite what to do about the self-inflicted Salah problem this season.

That Salah is leaving on a free transfer makes this deal even worse. The idea behind the renewal last season was to make sure that didn’t happen. But here we are, 12 months and £20m in salary later, and it’s exactly what’s transpired.

Some reports suggest that Saudi Arabian clubs thought they might have to pay up to £100m to strike a deal for Salah in January. Reports in Egypt say SPL sides were prepared to offer as much as £50m in a transfer fee to get him in summer 2026.

And now they are giving him away for free?

A cynic might suggest that Liverpool tied him down with the intention of cashing in and making some of his incredible wage cost back in the form of a transfer fee.

But now we see every aspect of this renewal has been an utter failure.

There are many reasons why Liverpool fans might be unhappy with Richard Hughes - from leaving Slot with an unbalanced squad to frittering away a large part of the £450m spent last summer.

But the Salah renewal is right up there as one of his most disastrous moments.

Under contract until 2027 if FSG decide to release him from his deal early then they can point to this cock-up as one of the most egregious moments in his ill-fated tenure as sporting director.

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