Mohamed Salah subject of ‘astronomical’ offer as Liverpool ‘keen to sign’ Euro 2024 winger
It has been confirmed by the Saudi Arabia sports minister that Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was the subject of an “astonomical” offer from Al-Ittihad.
There have been rumours of interest in Salah from Saudi Pro League sides for over a year with speculation that Al-Ittihad wanted to pay £150m for his services a year ago.
Saudi Pro League director of football Michael Emenalo admitted in December 2023 that he would like to see Salah move to the Middle East as soon as possible.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Saudi chief Emenalo namedropped Salah and Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, he said: “Mo Salah, like [Lionel] Messi, [Karim] Benzema, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, these are players that when there is a sense of availability for them, we are willing to listen,” he said.
“But we also understand that Mo is happy where he is at present and in a historic, wonderful club at Liverpool. We respect that very much and we don’t want to come across as putting any pressure on him.
“But if there is any interest to do something, Mo Salah is a player that you want in your league, in any league.
“We respect Liverpool and in this scenario, the initiative to do anything won’t come from us. There has to be an aligned interest from all parties involved.
“It’s a very personal thing, as a player that I recruited [for Chelsea] and I like. There’s nothing I’m saying that is new or ground-breaking – that a player of this level of talent is available and your league wants him.
“If Mo Salah is available, has an interest to come and everything is aligned, I would be incredibly delighted.”
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And now Saudi sports minister Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud has given details 0f Al-Ittihad’s pursuit of Salah last summer, he said: “Al-Ittihad requested Salah, and the package was astronomical. He was under contract and we [The Ministry of Sport] were not in direct negotiations.
“So we enquired to Liverpool and they said they had no desire to sell and so we ended the matter decisively.”
There has been little interest in Salah so far this summer but Liverpool have been linked with plenty of wingers, including Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams.
Reports in Spain have indicated that Liverpool are ‘keen’ on completing a deal for Williams but La Liga and Serie A insider Matteo Moretto thinks Barcelona currently have the “advantage” in the race to sign the Spain international.
Moretto wrote in his Caught Offside column: “Following news reported by Relevo that Barcelona have been in contact with Nico Williams’ camp explaining their plans to sign him, it’s worth recalling what we reported earlier here that there are clubs in the Premier League that have contacted his agents.
“But as we’ve been saying, Williams would prefer to stay in Spain. He looks on the opportunity to go to Barcelona favourably, with many friends there too.
“It’s true that Barcelona President Joan Laporta is crazy about signing him. Within Barcelona, between the directors, Nico has convinced everyone, and Sporting Director Deco also agrees on him – doing so at Barcelona is not easy, so that’s significant.
“Financially, I think Barcelona still have some work to do, someone has to leave, despite Laporta’s statements today. There’s some way to go, but there interest is real and it is genuine. It is also true that they have spoken with his camp.
“I would say Barcelona have an advantage over the others, due to the fact he prefers Barcelona. It won’t be an easy deal for Barcelona to do though, and there is a long way to go.”
