It’s truly staggering that we are about to enter a new year and Liverpool still haven’t tied Mohamed Salah down to a new deal.

I would understand if maybe the player was off form or showing signs that his career is starting to wind down now that he is in his early 30s.

But the little Egyptian is on fire this season, topping both the goal scoring and assist charts. There are no indications that age is catching up with him and, if anything, it feels like he is getting better with every passing game. It’s like he has just reached his peak.

I can only imagine that it is his age – 32 – which has made Liverpool hesitant to offer him a deal he can’t refuse. As a club, they generally prefer investing in younger lads with a future resale value, which is not a bad policy when you are talking about normal players.

Salah, however, is way more than normal, and allowing his age to hold them back from matching his demands (assuming he has made any) feels insanely blinkered. Salah is one of the greatest players to ever grace England’s top flight and a talent that is almost irreplaceable in the modern game.

I won’t go as far as saying he is single-handedly driving the club forward this season as that would be a lie.

Salah is, unquestionably, a key factor in Liverpool’s domestic and European charge

There are lots of good things about the post-Klopp Liverpool. But Salah is, unquestionably, a key factor in Liverpool’s domestic and European charge we are currently witnessing.

In just a few days, he will be free to sign pre-contract agreements with other clubs as he enters the final few months of his contract. And if that happens, Liverpool will have allowed one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever players to slip through their fingers.

Given his levels of fitness, I can see Salah playing at the highest level for another two or three years at least. If that is anywhere other than at Anfield, the club’s owners will have a hell of a lot to answer for.

Football’s unexpected twist

Ah, the Manchester City relegation juggernaut rolls on.

A home draw with Everton on Boxing Day leaves them rooted to the foot of the form table and showing few signs of being able to arrest the slide.

I know we’ve talked about City a lot over the last few weeks but that’s inevitable considering the magnitude of their implosion.

What I haven’t mentioned before is how much I am actually enjoying watching it unfold. Not because I hate City (although I don’t particularly like them), but because it shows that football still has the ability to shock and surprise in ways we wouldn’t dream of.

If you had told anyone a few months ago when Pep Guardiola’s team were top of the league and Erling Haaland was banging them in for fun, and that they would go on a run of just one win in 13 games, they would have labelled you borderline insane.

But that’s exactly where we are, as football proves it can still be an unpredictable beast when it wants.

An away clash with Leicester City today is the sort of game you would have put down as an absolute banker for City just a couple of months ago. Not anymore. In fact, I would say an away win is almost the least likely of the three possible outcomes.

And that is pretty mind-boggling.

Pereira and Juric

It was only last week I was talking about how Premier League teams are blinded by the dazzle of foreign managers. And now we have two more shining examples of this.

Wolverhampton Wanderers bin Gary O’ Neil and replace him with Vitor Pereira. Southampton dispose of Russel Martin and replace him with Ivan Juric.

Pereira arrived in England fresh from an uninspiring stint in the Saudi Pro League. But don’t worry, he comes with buckets of experience, having won league titles in Portugal (impressive), Greece (less impressive) and China (irrelevant).

He has zero experience of English football and is hardly what you would describe a relegation specialist, but none of that matters because his surname sounds deep and meaningful, and he has a sexy accent.

Southampton went a step further, showing Martin the door and bringing in a Croatian whose last meaningful role was at Roma where he lasted all of 12 matches before getting the sack.

This particular managerial swap stings even more because I don’t think there is a person on the planet who expected Southampton to stay up this season. On that basis, surely, they could have stuck by the manager who got them promoted with the aim of bouncing back at the first attempt.

Yes, they would have continued to get spanked a lot, but Martin and his team would have gained a lot of experience, which would have allowed them to come back stronger next year.

Juric may have arrived at the Premiership’s bottom club full of positive soundbites, optimism and promises to play heavy-metal football. But come May, all he will have is a relegation on his CV, while Southampton will have a manager with no idea what life in the Championship is like, nor the vaguest clue how to fight your way out of it.

Both these appointments may turn out to be moves of sublime genius, and I have to admit that Pereira has got off to a dream start, overseeing wins over Leicester and Man United. But I suspect that will turn out to be little more than a dead cat bounce.

There is a pattern forming in English football that genuinely pains me – use British managers to get you out of the Championship because that is a tough old division where local knowledge is vital.

Then, when the going gets tough in the Premier – as it inevitably will – send them packing in favour of Johnny Foreigner.

 And what really irks me is that Sheffield United, with new American owners confirmed last week, will do exactly the same thing. If Chris Wilder somehow manages to win promotion this year, at the first signs of struggle next season he will be out, and Christov Wilderic will take his place.

It’s all very, very ugly.

Happy New Year!

Here’s hoping you all have a smashing end of year and a brilliant start to the new one.

E-mail: James.calvert@timesofmalta.com

X: @Maltablade