Mohamed Salah has said he is treating this season as if it's his last at Liverpool after revealing no talks have taken place with the Premier League club over a new contract.
Salah maintained his fine start to the campaign with his latest devastating display at Old Trafford, setting up Luis Diaz for the first two goals and scoring the third in a 3-0 win over fierce rivals Manchester United.
The Egyptian has six goal involvements (three goals, three assists) in his first three Premier League games this season, yet despite his continued importance to Liverpool, his future is in doubt having entered the final year of his deal.
"I was coming to the game, I was saying, 'look, it could be the last time'," Salah told Sky Sports. "Nobody in the club talked to me yet about contracts so I was just like, 'OK, I play my last season and see at the end of the season'.
"I feel I am free to play football – we will see what happens next year.”
Salah has been Liverpool's standout attacking player since joining from Roma in 2017, scoring 214 goals and creating 92 assists in 352 appearances to play a key role in the club's Uefa Champions League and Premier League titles in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The 32-year-old forward has endeared himself further to Liverpool fans by frequently terrorising their biggest rivals United. Salah has been involved in 17 of Liverpool's last 23 goals scored against United (11 goals, six assists) – more than any player in Premier League history. He has also scored 10 goals in nine appearances at Old Trafford, becoming only the second visiting player after Alan Shearer at Elland Road to score 10 or more goals at a Premier League away ground.
Salah's latest star turn extended Liverpool's perfect start to the season after three matches to stay level on points at the top of the table with champions Manchester City, who lead on goals scored.
"A great result," said Salah. "Everyone knows the derby is important for the fans and the city. We need to carry on and if you want to fight for the league you have to win each game.
"I managed to be involved in three so I am happy about that. The manager likes us to press high and there was a couple of mistakes and we managed to use them – it was part of the plan.
"With Jurgen we were always like this to get the ball as high as possible. Quite similar from seven years ago, the manager has his own system and we try to adapt that."
Liverpool manager Arne Slot, who took over in the summer following Jurgen Klopp's exit, was asked about Salah's comments and refused to state whether his star forward would still be at the club beyond this season.
"It's a lot of 'if'. At this moment he is one of ours and I am really happy with him being one of ours and he played really well," Slot said. "I don't talk about contracts from players but I can talk for hours about how Mo played today."
Salah had been the subject of a reported £150 million bid from Saudi Pro League giants Al Ittihad last summer, although the offer was rejected by Liverpool. Should he enter the final six months of his contract, he will be free to discuss terms with foreign clubs in January, with interest from Saudi Arabia likely to be among the offers.
Salah now heads off on international duty where the Egypt captain will lead his national team into two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Cape Verde on Friday and Botswana next Tuesday. The Pharaohs have been placed in Group A also alongside Mauritania.
