Daniel Austin, BBC Sport

Mohamed Salah had a point he wanted to make outside St Mary’s Stadium.

Reporters often wait near the team coach and try to talk to players before they head home – at Liverpool, confident characters who are native English speakers like Andy Robertson are most likely to stop.

It is exceptionally rare Salah has spoken to journalists before boarding the coach – he did so this time knowing exactly what he would be asked about.

Salah’s responses are his way of making sure the public is clear about his frustration with Liverpool’s lack of urgency to resolve the situation.

The determination with which Salah has started the season, the stellar physical condition he is in, and his urge to force Liverpool’s hand all make clear that he believes he has much longer left at the very top of the game in Europe. The evidence strongly suggests he is right.

So why are Liverpool dragging their heels?

Maybe the much-lauded data analysis personnel at Liverpool are concerned that Salah’s performances may drop off if he signs another three-year extension, which would take him to the age of 36.

Or perhaps Liverpool are biding their time because they know that agreeing a deal with Salah would give Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold a yardstick for the type of salary they should demand in their own respective contract negotiations.

Whatever the reason, public uncertainty over the future of a player who remains among the world’s very best and who ranks very highly in the pantheon of Liverpool legends, could risk compromising a season that has started marvellously under new boss Arne Slot’s stewardship.