As Liverpool prepare to play one of the biggest games of their season so far, the story off the pitch is overwhelming the one on the field. The Reds are in Champions League action on Tuesday as they travel to Inter to face a red hot Italian team looking to cement its place in the top eight of the Champions League league phase table. They will, however, be without their iconic Egyptian attacker.
Mohamed Salah returned to training on Monday but is remaining on Merseyside while Liverpool travel to Milan to face Inter in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Saudi Pro League sides circle around the future of the 33-year-old, who lit the touch paper on speculation over his future with incendiary comments in the aftermath of his side’s 3-3 draw with Leeds on Saturday.
Suitors in Saudi Arabia are prepared to place Salah among the highest echelon of earners in the league — and by extension the sport — but they are not prepared to offer Liverpool terms anything like the enormous nine-figure deal the Reds rejected in the summer of 2023. Revelations from Salah, who has been on the bench in the last three games, that he felt “thrown under the bus” by the club and had no relationship with head coach Arne Slot have heightened the long-standing interest in the Egypt international at sovereign wealth fund and owner PIF, where there has been a longstanding willingness to commit significant funds to bring Salah in.
Is Mohamed Salah’s time at Liverpool over? Reds legend says club has thrown him under the bus amid slide
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How a Salah move to Saudi Pro League could occur
According to CBS Sports sources, Al-Hilal are Al-Ittihad are both positioning themselves in the internal race to secure the Egyptian’s services. League leaders Al-Nassr may yet enter the equation though any move could require them moving out Sadio Mane, a player they have long been open to parting ways with to open a roster spot for a superstar and who had a checkered relationship with Salah at Liverpool.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s side are also understood to be in the mix for Bruno Fernandes and could park their interest in Salah until the summer when the lay of the land becomes clearer after the World Cup. The possibility that further high-profile stars could become available after the tournament will also inform how PIF approach Salah’s surprise availability and whether some suitors opt to hold off in expectation of younger options in the summer.
Ultimately it will come down to the owners of these clubs as to where and when Salah joins the Pro League, if that is indeed what he wants. Sources close to PIF, which owns Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli, believe that a move to Saudi Arabia would be favored by the 33-year-old. Salah is understood to have been receptive to the initial proposal when Al-Ittihad saw a $162 million deal rejected by Liverpool in the summer of 2023.
Lines of communication have remained in place since then though it was notable that despite interest from Al-Hilal, PIF did not attempt to push the issue in January when Salah was approaching free agency. By that time it was apparent that he wanted to extend his Liverpool contract and Saudi dealmakers have been intent on playing the long game in pursuit of one of the most high-profile players in the world, one who is viewed as a successor to Ronaldo as the face of the league when the Portuguese striker eventually retires.
No large fee for Liverpool from Saudi clubs
As such, Pro League sources tell CBS Sports that they expect Salah to be offered comparable personal terms to the $200 million per year package that was proposed two and a half years ago. What is expected to change dramatically is what is on offer to Liverpool. CBS Sports reported prior to the rejection of a huge Al-Ittihad bid in September 2023 that such terms would not be on the table again. With Salah now 33, and struggling to replicate the form that brought Liverpool a title last season, any offer from PIF is expected to be a cut-price one.
Indeed, it has been suggested that Salah’s bombshell interview may afford Saudi clubs the same opportunity that emerged when Ronaldo burned bridges at Old Trafford prior to the 2022 World Cup. His scathing assessment of Erik ten Hag prompted Manchester United to release their star forward, who arrived at Al-Nassr the following month. Whether Liverpool would take such extreme action over Salah is as yet unclear, but his comments on Saturday have dramatically undermined their negotiating position.
Ultimately that would not prompt the Anfield hierarchy to reassess what might have been if they cashed in their chips two and a half years ago. Without Salah it is hard to imagine Liverpool romping to the title as they did last season. Meanwhile, as long as they get something above a peppercorn fee from any interested party, it will have made sense to extend his contract last summer even at a salary reported to be over $500,000 a week.
Were Liverpool right to re-sign Salah last summer?
Perhaps the only quandary that will hover over Michael Edwards and Fenway Sports Group is the opportunity cost of reupping Salah in the summer. The signings of Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike spoke to a team readying itself for a medium term future without one of their greatest ever forwards. Had they known that Salah might be gone in the first 12 months of his two year extension, might they have recruited differently? Lose the man who has made the right wing his own for over eight years and the squad looks remarkably light on width.
Dominik Szoboszlai has filled in at the position since Salah was dropped for the trip to West Ham and the Hungarian was customarily impressive in disappointing circumstances on Saturday’s defeat to Leeds. Is the right flank now his? If so does that necessitate going into the market for another wide attacker who can threaten in behind? Jeremie Frimpong could also serve as an option higher up the pitch when he returns from injury and Salah’s involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations was going to force Arne Slot to experiment out there anyway.
These were questions that were coming for Liverpool before too long no matter what. Even a player as brilliant as Salah was last season cannot bend the age curve in his direction forever. An organization as data-led as Edwards’ would surely have understood the risk that they were paying for past production when they put a two year extension in front of a player on the cusp of his 33rd birthday.
What they would have hoped for, however, was a gentle diminishing of the output of a player who has gone from 1.25 goals and assists per 90 minutes of last season’s Premier League to 0.48 this (his expected goals and assists have halved from 0.92 to 0.46). They might have hoped for a graceful transition out of every single XI with Salah easing into the role of elder statesman, his media comments infrequent and anodyne. And perhaps come the summer they could have taken the stance that they really don’t want to sell Salah but if a Pro League super team is going to slap a big wad of cash on the table for someone in their mid 30s, who could say no?
After events on Saturday, that scenario seems harder to envisage than ever before.
Inter vs. Liverpool viewing information
- Date: Tuesday, Dec. 9 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: San Siro — Milan
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Inter +115; Draw +250; Liverpool +220
