Liverpool's contract negotiations with the talismanic Mohamed Salah suffered a blow this week after it was revealed that the Egyptian has rejected their latest offer.

Talks have been rumbling on for months now and it seem the two parties are no closer to coming to an accord.

According to Fabrizio Romano, the initial offer was turned down in December and there have been no further talks since then.

It's undoubtedly a worrying state of affairs for Liverpool fans with Salah proving to be easily their best player since his arrival from Roma.

However, regardless of his status within the squad, the club are unwilling to break their very strict wage structure in order to accommodate his demands.

It is that structure that has proven to be incredibly successful for Liverpool and it is tricky to see how the club and Salah might meet in the middle.

Speaking ahead of their crucial Premier League clash with Brighton, former Liverpool star Peter Crouch gave a typically comical take on the matter.

Covering the lunchtime kick-off with BT Sport, Couch was eager to point out that Liverpool has, in the past, recovered from selling their best players.

"Of course, make him the highest paid but not way beyond the next best", he said.

"I think Liverpool have always shown themselves to be bigger than any individual. As a club they've sold players that you thought it would be unthinkable to do so and they've always recovered.

Crouch then perfectly reverted to type as he included himself in the list of big name stars to have left the club.

"[Luis] Suarez being one of them, [Fernando] Torres... Peter Crouch."

At this, the rest of the studio understandably broke out into fits of laughter before the discussion continued.

At the time of writing, Liverpool lead Brighton by 1-0 thanks to a brave Luis Diaz header from a sublime Joel Matip pass.