24 August 2023 , 17:09
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Mohamed Salah is not for sale - despite fanciful speculation of a “massive” Saudi bid.
Liverpool will simply not even entertain any approaches for their star striker, who has joined the ranks of the club’s all time greats with his spectacular scoring record over the past six years at Anfield.
Reports from the Middle East suggest that Al-Ittihad, the Saudi Pro League big spenders who tempted Fabinho away from Liverpool with a massive contract offer, want to do the same with Salah.
And there has even been speculation that the club are engaged in informal talks with the Anfield hierarchy over a potential deal, which would see Salah paid more than the Saudi League’s three highest earners, Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar.
Some report suggest Al-Ittihad would be prepared to pay a near £100m transfer fee for his services, and pay the Egypt international a salary of almost £200m, meaning he would earn even more than Ronaldo’s £3.4m a week, tax free.
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Yet the reports conveniently ignore the fact that Salah still has two years left on his contract AND there is only one week left in the current transfer window to find any replacement, even should Liverpool be tempted.
Salah has scored 187 goals in 307 games for Liverpool (Getty Images)In fact, they have had no contact at all regarding the player, or from his representatives either, and have no intention of selling. And the player’s agent Ramy Abbas Issa, already shutting down claims of a switch to Al-Ittihad earlier in the month, saying:
“If we considered leaving LFC this year, we wouldn’t have renewed the contract last summer. Mohamed remains committed to LFC.”
And one of the Egypt star’s best friends, Dejan Lovren - who still speaks to Salah on a regular basis after the two deeply bonded at Liverpool - reacted to the latest speculation with a short and brutal response: “Stop lying”.
Jurgen Klopp recently hit out at the fact that the Saudi transfer window is open longer than the European one, with clubs able to sign players for almost three weeks longer.
“The influence of Saudi Arabia is massive at the moment,” he said earlier this month.
“Pretty much the worst thing is that the transfer window in Saudi Arabia is open three weeks longer. If I am right, I heard something like that, then at least in Europe that’s not helpful.
“Uefa or Fifa must find solutions for that. It’s already influential for us but we will have to learn to deal with it.”