Revealed: Saudi Arabia's Mo Salah pursuit NOT OVER despite transfer window ending
Cameron Smith
- 8 Sept 2023 08:51 BST
- 4 min read
Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad believe their hopes of signing Mohamed Salah are not over, despite failing to land the Liverpool star this summer.
Salah, 31, was heavily linked with a move to the Middle East after Al-Ittihad expressed their willingness to pay a world record transfer fee for the Egyptian. However, Liverpool held firm and rejected any advances for the former AS Roma star.
The Saudi Arabian transfer window closed on 7 September, meaning Salah will remain at Anfield until January at least, with Liverpool resisting any urge to sell their star man.
READ MORE: Man Utd suffer MAJOR transfer blow days after summer window ended
However, despite failing with their pursuit of Salah this summer window, Saudi Pro League executives believe that a move will happen and currently think the transfer is simply ‘on-hold’ rather than being over.
That is according to The Daily Mail, who also revealed that Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal are prepared to rival Al-Ittihad for Salah’s signature.
READ MORE: Liverpool wanted Darwin Nunez SWAP DEAL before transfer rejection
Salah for world record move?
Saudi Arabia’s desire to sign Salah is so strong that they are willing to make him the most expensive player in football history, as per The Daily Telegraph.
Al-Ittihad were prepared to lodge a €233 million (£200m) bid for Salah this summer, which would have exceeded the €222m Paris Saint-Germain spent to sign Neymar from Barcelona in 2017.
However, Liverpool were not willing to sanction a sale, especially considering the Premier League window was shut, meaning they would not have been able to sign a replacement.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp was insistent that Salah was not for sale throughout the transfer saga, and the German has been keen to stress the 31- year-old is happy at Anfield.
The Egypt international has scored two goals and provided two assists in Liverpool’s opening four Premier League fixtures of the new campaign.
FootballTransfers understand that West Ham star Jarrod Bowen has been identified as a possible Salah replacement if Liverpool do eventually cave and sell their star player to Saudi Arabia.
