With Salah defying the age curve, Liverpool has tricky questions to answer Premium

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah defies age expectations, raising questions about his future with the club amid contract negotiations.

Ever since he joined Liverpool in 2017, Mohamed Salah has conveyed a sense of inevitability.

It’s a trait that has comforted Reds fans as much as it has struck fear in the hearts of rival supporters — you can try stopping him all you want, but he invariably finds a way to generate a moment of game-defining brilliance.

The numbers bear this out. Looking at just the Premier League, Salah has averaged 22 goals and almost 10 assists per season from 2017-18 to 2023-24. And even when he isn’t scoring or setting up goals at a rate only a select few have matched, the gravity of his presence, with markers drawn to him, opens up space elsewhere on the pitch for teammates to exploit.

What makes Salah exceptional is that he has continued to produce end-product in his late 20s and early 30s. The growth of football analytics, especially its influence on player recruitment and retention, has led to an emphasis on understanding how footballers age. With the sums of money involved in transfers, few clubs can afford mistakes on when to buy and sell players. 

While there are always outliers, players whose games require explosive bursts of speed as well the ability to sprint repeatedly at high intensity — such as wingers and full-backs — typically peak earlier than others. This becomes all the more significant when they play in teams that press a lot — given the physical demands, it’s difficult to accommodate players past their athletic prime.

At 32, Salah is defying the age curve. Wingers, according to the current consensus in football recruitment circles, tend to peak in the mid-20s, with an athletic drop-off expected in the 30s, if not the late 20s. This doesn’t appear to be the case with Salah, so far. While he has had dips in form, there haven’t been any obvious signs to suggest his days at the highest level are past him. 

Given the degree of professionalism among elite players, as well as the access to the most advanced sports science, many stars have found ways to lengthen their careers. But this places clubs in tricky positions when it comes to making decisions on contract extensions.