Mohamed Salah contract: Jurgen Klopp calm as Reds forward acknowledges Barcelona interest

Mohamed Salah has 18 months remaining on his current deal with Liverpool Football Club and the Reds are desperate to tie him down to a new deal before he enters the final year of his contract. The club and the wide attacker's representatives have been in talks, but there has been no news of a potential agreement over the wages or length of the deal.

Jurgen Klopp is calm about the prospect of keeping Salah at the club for the long-term, and accepts that a deal to re-sign one of the best players in the world at the moment will not happen over an "afternoon cup of tea." The German revealed that all of them are with the current situation and is confident that an agreement will be reached in due time.

"We're talking - and extending the contract for a player like Mo is not one where you meet for a cup of tea and find an agreement in the afternoon," Klopp said, as quoted by the BBC.

"Mo is fine, I'm fine. What we all want is clear. Things like this take time," the former Borussia Dortmund coach added. "I think what we all want is clear things. It needs time, that is it."

Salah's contract situation, meanwhile, has attracted interest from top clubs across Europe with Barcelona one among them monitoring the situation. Xavi Hernandez remains a big fan of the Egypt international, and has spoken of his interest to try to bring Salah to the Camp Nou. However, the Reds forward has made it clear that he prefers to remain in England for the time being.

"I read what was said about Xavi's interest to sign me," Salah said, as quoted on Barca Blaugranes. "This is something that makes me happy that a team like Barcelona is interested in me, but I'm happy in Liverpool and we will see what happens in the future."

"At the moment, I prefer to stay in the Premier League as it's the strongest league in the world," the current Premier League top scorer added.