REVEALED: The one FLAW that will cost Liverpool Mo Salah's future | OneFootball

Mohamed Salah’s decision to speak to the press after last week’s Premier League game against Southampton came as a surprise and will have put the fear into Reds fans.

The Egyptian King is set to leave the club at the end of the season on a free transfer, and put more fuel onto the fire by telling reporters that he is yet to receive a formal offer from the club.

"We are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club,” Salah said. “I’m probably more out than in.

"I’m not going to retire soon so I’m just playing, focusing on the season and I’m trying to win the Premier League and hopefully the Champions League as well. I’m disappointed but we will see."

Sporting Director Richard Hughes has been tasked with negotiating a new deal for Salah alongside managing potential incoming transfers and the not-so-small matter of new deals for both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk.

It’s an unenviable position for Hughes, and one that is not of his own making. Liverpool have been sleepwalking into this contract situation ever since they failed to properly replace Michael Edwards and handed more power over transfers to Jurgen Klopp.

That meant contracts were put to one side, leaving Hughes to come in and clean up. It’s a big job, and one that he may not be up to, according to an agent who has been on the other side of the negotiating table from Hughes.

Richard Hughes vs Mo Salah

Rob Jansen is a Dutch football agent who has dealt with Hughes and Liverpool this year, having represented coach Jonny Heitinga as he struck a deal to join Arne Slot at Anfield.

Speaking on Dutch podcast Kieft Jansen Egmond Gijp, he said that Hughes could end up being the reason that Salah LEAVES Liverpool.

"He's new to the club," he says of Hughes. "And one thing Richard Hughes doesn't have is any sense of empathy. Zero. He's a robot. I know that because I negotiated with him for Heitinga.

“There's zero feeling in him. That could be the reason. Especially with a player like Salah, who has emotion, a different culture and is sensitive to warmth."

Both Salah and Liverpool are in interesting positions when it comes to the negotiations. Salah is in incredible form and is leading a title charge nobody predicted at the start of the season, while FSG believe Salah wants to stay at the club and has limited options in terms of potential destinations that can match his sporting ambition.

Hughes' alleged lack of empathy is probably a positive for Liverpool in the long-run, especially when it comes to negotiating transfer fees for incoming players, but if he decides to be too hard-nosed in negotiations with Salah and his agent Ramy Abass, it could cost the Reds their best player.

Whatever happens, Hughes will be at the centre of it.