Saudi’s Al-Ittihad Unrelenting in Pursuit of Salah

As curtain falls on the Saudi Arabian transfer window tonight, Pro League side, Al-Ittihad, are afraid that time is running out in their bid to land Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

UK’s Telegraph Sport revealed last week the Saudi side were preparing a £150 million offer, which was submitted and rejected last Friday.

They are ready for a final bid this summer of £200 million for the Egypt forward but there has been no appetite on Liverpool’s side to engage in what would be a world-record deal. The current largest transfer fee of all-time is held by Neymar when he moved from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain for £190 million in 2017.

With one day remaining in the Saudi transfer window yesterday, sources close to Al-Ittihad believe it is too late to get a deal done before the 10pm deadline. Al-Ittihad’s interest in a deal for Salah, however, would be revisited in future windows if they did not land him this summer.

Salah has not made a public comment on the Saudi interest in him since it emerged he was a target. Liverpool have insisted the 31-year-old is not for sale. Their stance has been consistent and the Premier League record bid was rejected with hours of the English transfer window closing.

Salah’s team-mates Jordan Henderson and Fabinho have moved to Saudi Arabia this summer while Roberto Firmino headed there as a free agent after his contract ran down at Anfield. Henderson gave an interview this weekinsisting his move was not motivated by money, although the contracts on offer in the SPL would make Salah among the best paid sportsmen in the world.

After the victory over Aston Villa at the weekend, goalscorer Dominik Szoboszlai revealed Salah had told team-mates he wanted to stay at Liverpool, which was endorsed by Jurgen Klopp.

“I’ve never had, and I don’t have now, doubts about his future, his commitment to this club,” said the Liverpool manager. “Believe me, you can’t imagine how much fuss the whole world makes and how calm we are with it. He’s our player, he wants to play here and that’s it.”

Philippe Coutinho’s move from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2018 is the current most expensive Premier League transaction at £130 million.