Mo’s set to stay at Anfield... for next season at least

MOHAMED SALAH has tried to end speculation about his future by insisting he will be a Liverpool player next season. The Egypt forward, who is fit for Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris, has been in talks with the Anfield club for more than 12 months about extending the terms of his current deal, which expires next year. Salah suggested yesterday that the details of the negotiations were not important and that his focus was on finding a way to beat the Spanish champions in the French capital. ‘I don’t focus on the contract,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘I don’t want to be selfish. I am just focused on the team. I want to win the Champions League again. I want to see Hendo (captain Jordan Henderson) with the trophy again and hopefully he will give it to me after. But I am staying (here) next season, for sure.’ While it is a massive boost for Liverpool that Salah will spearhead their attempt to wrestle the Premier League title from Manchester City, he could run his contract down and leave as a free agent in June 2023. His strike partner Sadio Mane, who is being courted by Bayern Munich, is also entering the last 12 months of his contract and the Senegal star ducked questions about his future yesterday. ‘Stay or not — I will answer after the Champions League final,’ said 30-year-old Mane. Meanwhile, Liverpool are confident that key midfielders Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara will win their races to be involved in the final after they passed crucial tests. Thiago came off with an Achilles injury during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Wolves but initial fears that it was serious were dispelled. Fabinho has missed the last two weeks after pulling a hamstring at Aston Villa. In a boost for manager Jurgen Klopp, Fabinho took part in full training yesterday and, when asked what shape he was in for the weekend, the Brazil international gave a thumbs up and replied: ‘Yes, I’m ready.’ Thiago sat out the open session and remained in the gym with Lee Nobes, Liverpool’s head of physiotherapy, where he focused on strength and conditioning work. He was later joined by Joe Gomez, who hurt his ankle in the 2-1 win at Southampton last week. Provided Thiago suffers no adverse reaction overnight, he will be able to take part in training today and the feeling in the Liverpool camp is that he will be able to face Madrid. ‘He has a good chance,’ said Klopp yesterday. ‘It was not planned for him to do this session with the players and it looks like he can be part of training tomorrow. That would be pretty helpful, obviously. It’s surprisingly good. After the game I was not positive about it (the injury) but we got news it didn’t look that bad. We will see.’