Liverpool braced for £200m Mo Salah bid as Saudi officials fly in for talks
Al-Ittihad are preparing a world-record transfer bid for Mohamed Salah, with Saudi chiefs flying into London to try and persuade Liverpool to sell the Egyptian superstar.
They have already had an offer of £150m rejected by the Reds, with manager Jurgen Klopp repeatedly insisting the player will be staying at Anfield. After Liverpool's 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, Klopp was asked if the club's stance on selling Salah would remain the same no matter how much money they were offered and he replied: "Yes. Absolutely.
"I never had any doubt about his commitment to this club. You can't imagine how much fuss the world has made but how calm we are with it. He is our player and wants to play here. He didn't tell me [he wants to stay] but he didn't have to. He speaks with his training and performances and behaviour.
"We had meetings this week, and the meetings were not about what we did in the past, it was about what we will do in the future. Mo was with the players' [leadership] committee and had his moments where he was talking and it was nothing like 'by the way, this is only until next week' or whatever.
"He is completely here and if Dom [Szoboszlai] said [he's told players he wants to stay], fine. Mo doesn't have to come into my office and tell me 'by the way, boss... [I'm not going]'. For me it wasn't a subject for one second, to be honest, besides the questions from the outside."
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However, the Daily Mail are now reporting that a Saudi Arabian delegation arrived in London on Saturday to make 'one last push' to sign Salah before their transfer window closes. The report states that Al-Ittihad are set to make a new offer in the region of £200m and they believe the forward is open to a move. And while it remains to be seen how things will play out before the Saudi window slams shut on Thursday, Andrew Robertson has become the latest of Salah's teammates to weigh in on the rumours.
Dominik Szoboszlai said after the win over Villa that Salah "wants to stay with us" and Robertson says there is "no concern" among the squad that their star man could leave. "For us we block that out, Mo blocks it out," he said. "We let other people talk about that. For us there is no concern.
Liverpool have already rejected a big-money bid from Al-Ittihad for Mohamed Salah (Getty Images)"For us Mohamed Salah is a Liverpool player and we believe that is what is going to be the case for the foreseeable future. Our squad is what it is and that's the squad that is going to go forward now with the window shut. It is about getting the most out of the squad, it is about looking forward to the season ahead and trying to do better than what we did last season.
"He's the ultimate professional. He does what it does, he is one of the best players in the world and he is professional. He lets other people do the talking, lets other people say what they have to say, but he's always been committed to Liverpool and you saw that with this performance.
"He's not been affected, I've been around him a lot and he's not been affected by anything. Mo has reacted in the best way possible and I think you have seen that with his performance, I think he was pretty special."
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