Salah and Firmino have agreed new deals with Liverpool, who are spending to keep their best players

Liverpool’s decision to extend the contracts of key players will result in an additional financial commitment of between £150 million and £200 million.

The outlay represents the combined incremental cost of wage rises alone on those improved contracts and emphasises the club’s desire to retain players who have taken Liverpool to the top of the Premier League this season.

At least eight players — Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Rhian Brewster — have signed new contracts since last April as the nucleus of Jürgen Klopp’s title-chasing squad is kept intact for the long haul. Many of these eight had at least two years left on their deals, but have now extended them until 2023 or