Salah became the highest-paid player in Liverpool’s history last month when he signed a new three-year deal worth around £350,000-a-week. The deal ended months of uncertainty over the 30-year-old’s future and gave “all of us a boost” according to the Liverpool manager. Salah scored 31 club goals last season, despite his performance dipping after the Africa Cup of Nations. Klopp said: “He is in very good shape and of course he is happy to be here. As clear as it was to him, and I said we’re going to finish the deal, it was still an open issue and everybody’s talking about it. We’re human, but I didn’t see it as much of a distraction to be honest. “Mo has had one of the most intense seasons, with the Africa Cup of Nations and all our games. Everyone talks about us playing 63 games, but we’ve had some players play a tournament in between, which is absolutely ridiculous. “After a couple of weeks off, Mo is always full of strength and energy and he’s back in good shape and, yeah, knowing where he’s going to be, I wouldn’t say the rest of his career because he’s a player who can play. for much longer, but for the next very, very important years in his career. This gave us all a boost and him as well. He looked really sharp throughout pre-season to be honest. May it continue.” A negative for Klopp ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League opener at Fulham is the number of injuries that have affected the squad in pre-season. Ibrahima Konaté faces an extended spell on the sidelines with a knee injury sustained in a friendly against Strasbourg. Klopp described the defender’s injury as “a huge blow” and did not put a timetable on his recovery. Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Caomin Kelleher will also be absent, although Klopp insists Liverpool are unlikely to respond with a signing. “We can’t solve a problem we’ve had for four weeks by transferring for a whole year,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense right now for us. The transfer window is still open and we’ll see, but the plans are not to go in that direction.”
