Game over with Salah ‘likely’ to leave Liverpool this week after ‘unbelievable’ double Saudi offer

Mohamed Salah is now expected to leave Liverpool for Al-Ittihad by the end of the week, according to reports.

Salah has become a top target for Al-Ittihad after a summer in which the Saudi Pro League champions have also signed Fabinho, N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema. Liverpool’s stance all along has been that he is not for sale after signing the biggest contract in the club’s history last summer.

Furthermore, Salah’s agent has denied that they are looking to get him out of Liverpool. But the rumours have been relentless about a move to the Middle East.

Now, Jan Aage Fjortoft has revealed via Twitter that “it’s likely that Salah will leave Liverpool this week”.

The former footballer, who now works in the media, has described the offers Al-Ittihad have made to Liverpool and Salah as both being “unbelievable”.

Other sources have suggested recently that Salah is in line to become the best-paid player in Saudi Arabia, which is quite something when Cristiano Ronaldo is already there with Al-Nassr.

The value of Al-Ittihad’s bid to Liverpool for his transfer could come to €150m (around £129m), including a guaranteed payment of £89m.

Clubs in Saudi Arabia have until September 7 – six days after the English transfer window closes – to complete any more signings for what has been an incredible summer for their league.

Liverpool have already sold Fabinho to Al-Ittihad and Jordan Henderson to Al-Ettifaq this summer, while Roberto Firmino signed for Al-Ahli after his contract on Merseyside expired. Firmino and Salah’s former attacking colleague Sadio Mane has also ended up in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr after leaving Bayern Munich.

End of an era for Liverpool

Together, the trio of Salah, Firmino and Mane represented one of the most dangerous attacks the Premier League has ever seen. At the peak of their powers, they helped Liverpool to lift a long-awaited Premier League title in 2020.

Salah will certainly go down as a Liverpool legend after climbing to fifth in the club’s all-time scoring chart. From 307 appearances, he has scored 187 times for the club – more than Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Kenny Dalglish and many other legends.

During his debut season, 2017-18, he scored a sensational 44 goals in all competitions after joining the club from Roma. In the five seasons since, he has always broken the 20-goal barrier in all competitions; in fact, he hit the landmark of 30 or more in each of the past three seasons.

But it could now be the end of an era for the Egyptian King, who will be a tough act to follow at Liverpool – especially if they run out of time to sign a replacement before the transfer window closes.

Liverpool’s attack also consists of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota, but most of the wider options prefer to play on the opposite side to Salah.

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