Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes, like most of us at St Mary’s, had lost his battle with the weather. His usually pristine combover had a life of its own and the Reds transfer chief looked frozen as he chatted away to friends in the posh seats.

Down on the pitch, however, his star player Mohamed Salah was making a mockery of everyone shivering away in the stands as he took off his shirt and flexed his abs to the travelling Kop.

This is an all-weather player for every occasion. Whether Liverpool need a goal to turn a poor performance into a win against relegation fodder or they need a star performance to topple a title rival, Salah is still the man.

So after another two goals here, the fifth straight game he has scored in, Salah further strengthened his hand at the negotiating table when it comes to his new contract. On the evidence of this season, Liverpool simply cannot allow him to sail away into the sunset yet.

If Hughes and the Reds top brass could not see this from up in the stands, Salah’s statistics speak for themselves: 18 games this season, 12 goals, 10 assists. This game marked a century of away goals for the club to take his total tally to 223 at Liverpool and a round 300 including his former teams.

In terms of modern players, he is making a stronger case each week to be their best in recent memory. Very few in Premier League history can change outcomes of matches — and with it perhaps title races — like Salah is still doing into his mid 30s.

Mohamed Salah has now scored 12 goals and provided 10 assists in just 18 games this season

The Egyptian scored twice on Sunday to complete Liverpool’s comeback against Southampton

Arne Slot’s side are now eight points clear of Man City after their shock 4-0 defeat to Spurs

To put it bluntly, without Salah, Liverpool would not be eight points clear in the league. No chance. This win was another example of that.

Arne Slot’s men were far from their best and Southampton probably deserved more than the loss they ended up with. Alex McCarthy was making plenty of saves but Saints seemed quite sturdy otherwise — and Salah was having a quiet afternoon.

But the best players turn up when it matters and that is what Salah did here, with an exquisite first goal — whether he intended it to turn out how it did is questionable but the Egyptian deserves the benefit of the doubt — and a clinical penalty to win the match.

Without Salah, Liverpool may have flew back to Merseyside empty-handed and just five points clear, which could have been cut to just two next Sunday when Manchester City are in town. Instead, they are eight ahead and that could be double figures this time next week, from Pep Guardiola’s men at least.

But the big conundrum is what happens next. In 37 days, Salah can legally speak to foreign clubs about joining them for free in the summer. In six months, he could be playing his final game in a Liverpool shirt.

Yes, he is their best-paid player on £350,000 a week — plus a plethora of bonuses — but exceptions feel necessary with this once-in-a-generation star.

Once the Reds top brass have warmed up from this blustery afternoon on the south coast, they should note those statistics above and make the numbers work to get Salah signed up to a new contract.