Steven Gerrard could settle two Liverpool issues in 40 days as Mohamed Salah contract at stake

While Jürgen Klopp preaches one game at a time, Liverpool fans are inevitably looking to the final game of the season. Manchester City host Aston Villa, potentially with the title on the line: it could hand Steven Gerrard the chance to send the Premier League trophy to Anfield.

It’s an irresistible narrative and a tantalising prospect. Nor is it completely beyond the realms of possibility; Aston Villa have suffered a major dip in form of late, but they made life difficult for Man City in the reverse fixture. Shortly after that, Gerrard restricted Liverpool to just one goal in an awkward encounter at Anfield. It’s a team with a fair amount of individual quality, and when the collective processes click it can be impressive.

But whether or not the ultimate catharsis for Gerrard remains in the realms of fantasy, the former Liverpool captain could still end up having a massive impact on his old club just 40 days later. He won’t mean to, but he could have a significant say in the future of Mohamed Salah, who will soon have just a year left on his contract.

No, Aston Villa are not likely to be putting in a bid. Gerrard’s recruitment strategy has been distinctly Liverpool-themed throughout his managerial career, but Salah would be a coup too far even for the cash-rich Midlands side. However, the future of Philippe Coutinho could yet prove to be relevant.

Currently on loan at Aston Villa, Coutinho remains on an eye-watering salary of some £480,000 per week. Of that, Barcelona are still paying somewhere in the region of £355,000 towards his contract. The Brazilian would have to take a major pay cut to make the move to Villa Park permanent, but there have been suggestions that Gerrard may be able to convince his former teammate to do just that.

Why is that relevant to Salah? It all comes down to whether or not Barcelona have a realistic prospect of signing him. They have been credited with a genuine interest, but their La Liga spending cap is currently deep into the minus figures — it seems impossible that they would be able to pull off any sort of transfer coup. But a loophole means that the departure of Coutinho could leave Liverpool vulnerable.

La Liga has something known as the 1/4 rule, designed to ensure clubs that have fallen foul of their spending limits are nonetheless not completely paralysed by low (or negative) salary caps. It allows clubs to spend a quarter of any savings they make or revenue they generate. In the case of savings that account for more than five per cent of the overall squad cost limit, a functionally similar 1/2 rule comes into force.

Thus, if Coutinho completes a permanent move away from the Nou Camp, Barcelona will suddenly have at least an extra £89,000 per week to play with, despite their negative spending cap. Just 40 days after the day of reckoning with Man City, Gerrard could cause Liverpool a serious headache upon the opening of the Spanish transfer window.

Of course, £89,000 will not be enough to tempt Salah to Barcelona. He is already earning more than double that at Liverpool. That’s before considering the transfer fee that would still be required to tempt FSG into a sale. But the Catalans have other avenues to explore. Out of contract in summer, Ousmane Dembélé is currently on £210,000 per week — his expected departure would duly conjure up another £52,000 on the weekly wage bill.

In truth, it still seems like a stretch for Barcelona to make enough inroads to fund a move for Salah. But the departure of Coutinho, ideally with a transfer fee to boot, is a necessary step for the conversation to even take place. Gerrard understandably wants to make the Brazilian’s stay at Aston Villa a permanent one, but it might just make the Liverpool hierarchy a little more twitchy — the lack of plausible buyers is currently an ace up FSG’s sleeve in the contract stand-off, but they risk overplaying their hand.