Al ittihad in a chase for Mohamed Salah
Al ittihad in the Saudi Pro League has developed interest in Liverpool forward and star Mohamed Salah.
They have remained intent on signing Mohamed Salah from Liverpool for up to £150m; this means that Jurgen Klopp would have only until 11pm on Friday to sign a replacement before transfer window shuts down until January; Liverpool are unwilling to sell their talisman.
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Al Ittihad are willing to pay Salah £1.5m per week and also pay Liverpool a transfer fee of more than £100m.
Liverpool on the other hand are still adamant, saying that the Egyptian is not for sale, and they have no intention of selling him.
Al Ittihad determined to sign Salah
Al-Ittihad are aware that Liverpool will refuse to budge on their stance that the Egyptian is not for sale. And the figures being mentioned in the region of between £130m to £150m inclusive of add-ons – will not soften that position.
They are therefore hoping that they can successfully tempt Salah to push for the move. The 31-year-old has been nothing but professional through the noise over this situation thus far.
Saudi pro League’s Al Ittihad are intent on signing the Liverpool forward, who has scored once in three games for the club this season.
The Saudi Pro League believe that Mo Salah is the most famous Arab footballer in the world and it would be a massive coup for them to have him playing there.
He has been on a list of names the Saudi Pro League have compiled of players they want to sign this summer. There’ve been other big names on it like Karim Benzema, Neymar, who they have been able to get, but so far they haven’t managed that with Salah.
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“I don’t think Mo Salah will go. One, because it’s so late in the window. And I don’t necessarily think Mo Salah will want to go,” Carragher said.
“It would have to be over £150m, you’re not replacing Salah for £100m. If it was earlier, maybe. But it’s so late in the window.
“I think Salah will be a little bit like Cristiano Ronaldo, I can see him playing until his late 30s. He will think he has another three or four years [at the highest level].
“He has two years left on his Liverpool contract, I don’t know if he will stay beyond that. But I think he will want to score as many goals as he can, win the biggest honours and break records and then go to an MLS team, Saudi Arabian team maybe somewhere else in his late 30s. I think he looks after himself so well, he’s such a professional, that he has many more years in Salah right now.
“If you think of the model of FSG and the reason why Liverpool have so much success, when someone paid over the odds for Philippe Coutinho, they didn’t replace him. They bought Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker and Liverpool went on to win the lot.”
Salah becomes the most expensive signing in the Saudi pro League’s history if he signs for Al Ittihad
Mohamed Salah is the latest Reds star to be linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, with Al Ittihad ready to offer him wages on par with Manchester United legend and Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo.
Al Ittihad want to make Salah the most expensive Saudi Pro League signing of all time and break the record only set earlier this month when Neymar joined Al Hilal for £69m.
But despite Salah scoring a whopping 187 goals in 308 games in Liverpool and helping them to lift the Premier League in 2020, former Liverpool midfielder and manager Souness has said that he can see the Reds being willing to sell the winger.
Should the transfer actually take place, Salah will become the most expensive player ever in the Saudi Pro League. That title has been in the name of Neymar, who made the transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to Al-Hilal for £69 million, for just two weeks.
For Liverpool, the transfer fee is of course a nice bonus, but the departure of Salah will also mean that the Reds will probably have to go back to the transfer market.
Jurgen Klopp’s team has already done quite a bit of work this summer, saying goodbye to experienced players such as Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Roberto Firmino.
Liverpool fans, on the other hand, have been frustrated with the comparatively slow work to bring players in, with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo arriving at Anfield.
If Salah were to leave, then it means that Liverpool would have to act fast to feel the void.
Salah, one of the best players in England
Mohamed Salah passed a milestone in the 2022/23 campaign when overtaking Robbie Fowler to become Liverpool’s all-time record scorer in the Premier League.
The Egyptian hotshot has won the Golden Boot on three occasions among a whole host of individual honours as well as leading the Reds to the title in 2020.
Salah was recently named the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in England, and has a chance to make history with this Liverpool team as they have won the EFL Cup, and are still optimistic to become triumphant in the hunt for the Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League this season.
Mohamed Salah also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a right winger or forward for Premier League club Liverpool and captains the Egypt national team.
Considered one of the best players of his generation and amongst the greatest African players of all time, he is known for his clinical finishing, dribbling and speed.
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Salah started his senior career in 2010 playing for Al Mokawloon, departing in 2012 to join Basel, where he won two Swiss Super League titles. In 2014, Salah joined Chelsea for a reported fee of £11 million, but limited gametime led to successive loans to Fiorentina and Roma, who later signed him permanently for €15 million.
In the 2016/17 season, Salah was a key figure in Roma’s unsuccessful title bid, reaching double figures in both goals and assists. In 2017, Salah signed for Liverpool for a then-club record transfer of £36.9 million.
In his first season, he set the record for most Premier League goals scored (32) in a 38-game season and helped Liverpool to the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final.
Having formed a formidable attacking trio with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané after the departure of Philippe Coutinho, Salah went on to be an integral player in the club’s Champions League and Premier League title successes the following two seasons, and has since also won the FA Cup and the League Cup.
Salah has achieved numerous individual accolades, including two PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards, three Premier League Golden Boots, the Premier League Player of the Season, the Premier League Playmaker of the Season, and finished third for the Best FIFA Men’s Player in 2018 and 2021.
He received the 2018 FIFA Puskás Award for his winning strike in the first Merseyside derby of the 2017/18 season. In 2023, Salah became Liverpool’s Premier League top goalscorer, surpassing Robbie Fowler.
At international level, Salah represented Egypt at youth level before making his senior debut in 2011. Following his performances at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was named CAF Most Promising African Talent of the Year.
Since then, he finished as runner-up in the 2017 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and was top scorer during CAF qualification as Egypt qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Salah was named CAF African Footballer of the Year (2017 and 2018), BBC African Footballer of the Year (2017 and 2018), and was selected in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament, 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament and the CAF Team of the Year on several occasions.
Outside of football, Salah is regarded as a symbol of national pride in Egypt for his achievements and was named in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2019. Salah has also been credited for raising the profile of Liverpool among Egyptians.
