Arne Slot has made clear he wants Mohamed Salah to stay at Liverpool and is due to reintegrate the Egypt international into his squad for the Brighton match, but Saudi clubs are watching and waiting
Saudi Pro League clubs are reportedly confident of signing Mohamed Salah if he makes clear he wishes to leave Liverpool. And clubs from the kingdom are said to believe they will have to pay a transfer fee of around £100million for the Egyptian international.
The Daily Mail reports that Salah, who has 18 months left to run on his contract worth over £400k-a-week, would not necessarily be wholly opposed to such a move. He has reputedly never ruled out going to Saudi Arabia over recent years.
Liverpool, though, have no intention of selling Salah, who heads off to AFCON with Egypt imminently.
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A sale in January is not being sought by Liverpool, even with Saudi clubs’ whopping nine-figure valuation of the 33-year-old. A similar figure was mooted for Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes in the summer, but he remained at Old Trafford.
Saudi news outlet Al Riyadiah claimed Al-Ittihad approached Salah back in the summer of 2023, offering £52million to Liverpool and the player a two-year contract worth £155million. The Reds then rejected a £100million bid, which would reportedly rise to £150million, from the same club on transfer deadline day a month later.
If Liverpool do ultimately offer any encouragement a deal could be done, Al Hilal, Al Qadisah and Neom are all said to be interested – but this has not come as yet.
Saudi clubs are waiting to see if peace can be brokered fully before launching any approach. One source described the Saudi transfer situation as ‘difficult’, but there is hope a deal could happen if Salah shows willingness.
Salah is due to be in the Liverpool squad when they play Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield this weekend. That return comes after positive talks with head coach Arne Slot.
He was left at home for the midweek Champions League match against Inter at San Siro. That decision came with the full backing of Slot after Salah claimed he had been “thrown under the bus” after being dropped from the starting lineup for Liverpool’s last three Premier League matches.
Slot spoke at length about Salah during his pre-match press conference on Friday. He said: “I will have a conversation with him this morning, and the outcome of that conversation will determine how it looks tomorrow. What I need is a conversation with him, and the next time I speak about Mo should be with him and not in here.
“There’s not much more I can say. I will speak to him (Salah) today, and the outcome determines how things will look tomorrow.
“You can try (the question) in multiple ways, but I just said the next time I speak about him should be with him. There’s been a lot of conversation since last week between his representatives and ours.
“An apology? Normally, I’d say you’ve had your three questions!”
Slot added: “Who made the call (to leave Salah out of the squad for Inter)? We decided, as a club, and I was part of that decision, not to take him to Inter.
“I am always in contact with them, with lineups and squads; that is always left to me. I talk to Richard Hughes more than Michael Edwards; we speak about many things.
“Do I want him to stay? Another way of asking, but the next time I speak about Mo will be with him. I have no reason not to want him to stay.”
