Mohamed Salah is always a Liverpool talking point. Whether it is because of the latest goalscoring record he has broken or some comments about his contract, the Egyptian is never far from the headlines.
During the pre-match press conference ahead of facing Newcastle United, it was no different. Arne Slot was asked about Salah's Ballon d'Or chances and also if his form would make it harder for Liverpool to tie him down to an extension. It was a Salah-heavy 20 minutes or so.
"You can look at it in both ways," Slot said. "You can say the better he does, the more expensive he might become. And if he does worse, we could have second thoughts about if we wanted to extend his contract!"
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Slot was in a relaxed mood (and why wouldn't he be with his side sitting pretty at the top of the league table?). He spoke openly about the Salah situation and reiterated his view that the Liverpool number 11 should re-sign.
"For everyone, it is the best that he brings the performances than he does not," Slot said. "Maybe only for the one who has to pay him it is not the best!" he joked.
"For everyone else, it is the best. If you want to be at this club, you need to be at his level, otherwise you are almost useless to play at this club.
"We only need players who are at the top of their game because this is one of the best clubs — or the best club — in the world to play for. So he needs to have these performances for him to play here, and hopefully for him to extend."
That, fundamentally, is what it should come down to: Salah is vital to Liverpool and the Reds would be nowhere near the position they are in were it not for his goals. Likewise, though, Anfield is the best place for the player to perform at the highest level.
That has long been the case, and so too has the Liverpool transfer stance which Slot shares. While the Salah comments will take precedence in terms of being a talking point, the Reds boss also offered some quiet insight ahead of the summer. "If you want to be at this club, you need to be at his level."
In Slot's first summer, in a bid to allow the Liverpool coach to properly assess the players he already had, only Federico Chiesa was brought in. An agreement was also reached for Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili to arrive in 2025.
This year, the expectation is that Liverpool will be busier. "We are looking at every single position and we are looking at the team," Slot said last week. "I think it's clear to you that I'm not going to tell you which positions we prefer, but it is clear that we've assessed the squad, we've assessed what we think where we can improve, and that's where we try to go for in the summer."
Regardless of what happens with the three major contract situations that need to be resolved — and those players will all need replacing if they end up leaving — there are also areas of the squad that can be improved. A new left-back and a new number nine, for instance, should be high up on the list of priorities.
But when those targets are identified, they will have to be of a truly elite level. Finding ones of the same level as Salah will be impossible, but getting close is the aim. That's also why Liverpool didn't just bring in someone for the sake of it last summer: it has to be the right target, and the strategy has since paid off.
