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Mohamed Salah has given Liverpool a major boost ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid by confirming he will not leave the club this summer.
The 29-year-old, who shared this season’s Premier League Golden Boot award with Tottenham Hotspur‘s Son Heung-Min, is out of contract at Anfield at the end of next season and has yet to commit to a new deal with Jurgen Klopp’s team.
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Uncertainty over the Egypt international’s future had led to speculation that Salah could leave Liverpool in order to avoid his departure as a free agent a year later.
Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain have both been linked with the former Chelsea and AS Roma forward due to his failure to agree new terms at Liverpool.
But although he stopped short of saying he would sign a new deal at Anfield, Salah has now said that he will see out the final year of his contract.
“I am just focused on the team and don’t want to talk about my contract,” Salah said at Liverpool’s pre-Champions League media conference. “But I am staying next season for sure, that’s for sure.
“In my mind, I don’t focus about the contract at the moment. I don’t want to be selfish. I said two months ago, it’s all about the team now. It’s a really important week for us, so I am just focused on the team. I want to win the Champions League again.”
Salah will face Madrid four years after being injured during the Champions League final defeat against the Spanish club in Kiev in 2018.
He admits that he is determined to avenge that defeat on what he claims was the worst night of his career.
“I’m very motivated,” Salah said. “I am motivated through the roof, especially after what happened last time and what happened on Sunday [in the Premier League], everybody is motivated to win the Champions League.
“Coming off after 30 minutes the last time [against Madrid] was the worst moment of my career.”
Meanwhile, Sadio Mane confirmed that he will announce his future plans after the final against Madrid on Saturday.
“This question [about my future] I will answer after Champions League,” he told Sky Sports on Wednesday. “If I’m staying or not, I’m going to answer after Champions League.”
Both Mane and Salah’s existing contracts at Anfield run out in 2023.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said talk surrounding the futures of his star players won’t have an impact the team’s focus ahead of the final.
“Not at all. What do you mean? If we win then they will want to go now? Or… We are in talks with all the players,” Klopp told a news conference. “But no [it has not affected the players], now is not the time.
“Sometimes players have this idea, we have another, sometimes they don’t match immediately but we work together, we have known each other for ages. It’s all fine.
“It is all clear, not one of them is waiting to hear from us what we want to do.”
Klopp also confirmed that there is a “good chance” that Thiago will play in the final despite limping off in the final Premier League match against Wolves on Sunday.