Saudi Arabian champions Al-Ittihad will offer a £120million transfer bid to land Mohamed Salah – but Liverpool are set to stand firm and reject the offer.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has downplayed rumours Salah could leave Anfield, while the player's agent Ramy Abbas Issa insisted earlier this month that the forward "remains committed to LFC". However, the Saudi transfer window does not close until later in the month and they will launch a concentrated effort to land the Egyptian.
Salah has been heavily linked with a move to the Saudi club in recent weeks, with state-owned broadcaster KSA Sports TV claiming Liverpool's 2-1 win over Newcastle on Sunday would be Salah's final game for the Reds. An eye-watering £130million offer has been touted.
Liverpool have already lost forward Roberto Firmino this summer but remain well-stocked in attacking areas with Luis Diaz returning to full fitness while Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota are among the other options in attack – but any exit of Salah would leave them short.
A report in the Mail details how they are set to reject any approach for Salah from Al-Ittihad, who will launch a bid that would be the second highest in Liverpool’s history – behind only the £145m fee they received for Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona in 2018.
A report in The Athletic added: "Somebody said: 'Prepare yourself for some fireworks' in these final 24 hours around the Mo Salah situation. That's not saying it is going to happen, but they are not gonna go without a fight. Liverpool's stance that he is not for sale."
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Image:
Getty Images)FIFA have their transfer deadline day listed as September 20. However, on the league's website, they claim teams have until September 7 to sign players from outside Saudi. Either way, clubs will have at least one more week to sign players compared to those in leading European nations.
The Reds have already seen several star players depart to the Middle-East this summer. Club captain Jordan Henderson joined Al-Ettifaq while Fabinho was signed by Al-Ittihad, who want to reunite the Brazilian with Salah for this upcoming campaign.
Furthermore, Firmino departed Anfield as a free agent and joined Al-Ahli, while former Reds star Sadio Mane joined Ronaldo at Al-Nassr following one unsuccessful season with Bayern Munich – with fresh reports on Tuesday suggesting Joe Gomez may also be on his way to the Middle East.
Cristiano Ronaldo began the trend of players moving to the Middle Eastern state by joining Al-Nassr in January, while the likes of Fabinho, Karim Benzema, Ruben Neves, Alex Telles, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Mane and Neymar have all moved to Saudi in recent months.
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