Mo Salah to land £187m personal jackpot as disgruntled Liverpool star ‘opens talks’ after picking next club – report

Mohamed Salah has finally decided to leave Liverpool this summer, according to strong reports in France, with the player having ‘opened discussions’ with Al-Ittihad and with the Egyptian poised to sign one of the most lucrative contracts in sports history.

The Egyptian star has been restored to the Liverpool side in recent weeks following his return from the African Cup of Nations, though supporters are yet to see a player back at his very best. While he still has 12 goal contributions (six scored, six assists) from 25 appearances this season, Salah‘s numbers are way down from what was seen last season and, indeed, over the 33-year-old’s extraordinary Anfield career.

Such has been his downturn that Salah was axed from the Liverpool side for three successive games at the back end of November, with his frustrations spilling out into an extraordinary rant at manager Arne Slot, who he accused of ‘throwing him under the bus’.

While the two men have put aside their differences to focus on the good of the club for the remainder of the season – and with sources making it clear that Salah was not prepared to accept a squad place at Anfield – it seems that falling out has now convinced the attacker to seek a new adventure at the season’s end.

Per the Daily Mirror, Salah is now ready to explore a move to Saudi Arabia, where the player has been promised a contract that will treble his current £400,000 a week package to £1.2m a week – one of the most lucrative in sports history.

Earning a whopping £62.4m over a year – or £187.2m over the duration of a three-year deal – they believe a parting of ways now looks inevitable this season – and the move may well prove to be in the best interests of all parties.

Following on from that, French publication, Foot Mercato, now claims Salah ‘has opened discussions’ over a potential summer transfer to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ittihad, who are eager to bring in a big name to replace Karim Benzema, who moved to Al-Hilal earlier this month.

And their report claims the ‘December crisis’ between Salah, Liverpool and Slot ‘while subsided, nonetheless left its mark’ and Al-Ittihad ‘will be able to capitalise on this, as negotiations with the Egyptian international have already begun’.

Furthermore, they state that the disgruntled star is ready to green-light the departure and is ‘allowing his representative to move forward with negotiations for a transfer’.

Want more breaking transfer lines from original sources? Add TEAMtalk as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

Sources confirm Salah will likely leave Liverpool this summer

The report in Foot Mercato continues: ‘According to our information, his agent is in talks with Al-Ittihad, and unlike last year, Mo Salah is much more open to a move to Saudi Arabia. This could satisfy all parties. Liverpool would receive a transfer fee, and Salah would be the one to ultimately decide the move.’

While we were emphatically told that FSG were dead against his sale in the winter window – citing both the injury to Alexander Isak and the decision made by club bosses not to compete for the signing of Antoine Semenyo – there appears a very clear pathway opening up for him when it comes to the summer.

And while our transfer correspondent, Graeme Bailey, revealed that, ahead of the winter window, Salah’s camp had been approached by teams from six different leagues from around the world, what has been made evidently clear to us is that Salah would only likely leave Anfield for one destination: Saudi Arabia.

Per our sources, while Salah has been ‘inundated’ with offers, his only focus, should he leave Anfield, is trained only on moving to the Gulf State, where it is not just the ludicrous sums of money on offer, but also the project on offer that appeals.

Bailey also previously revealed that Liverpool are now in the ‘endgame’ with Salah.

“They are planning for his succession, whether it’s [this] year or the year after that,” Bailey reported.

“I don’t think it’s a real worry. Even if he was playing brilliantly, there would be a chance of him going next summer. I don’t think it’s form-related; I think they’ll assess it.

“He’s on a two-year deal, so it’s a short-term thing anyway,” adds the reporter. “There’s never an easy or right time to move on from these world-class players.

“A sale next summer might suit all parties, even if he was the best player in the Premier League right now, I don’t think you could rule him out of leaving next summer.

“They’ve just spent the best part of £300m on Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. That’s more than a quarter of a billion pounds on three forwards. We’ve started endgame for Salah, this is either the penultimate season or the last one.”

Latest Liverpool news: Serie A playmaker linked; Slot sack this week?

Meanwhile, Slot has been warned that he is now just one defeat away from losing his job as Liverpool manager, as the Reds travel north for a clash at Sunderland on Wednesday night, now branded “must-win” and with the Dutchman himself opening up on the mounting pressure he is under.

However, Liverpool supporters appear divided on whether they should sack Slot and appoint Xabi Alonso as his replacement, with some fans picking out three other preferred options, and amid a damning stat which suggests the Dutchman could be on borrowed time.

On the transfer front, Liverpool are reportedly ready to go toe-to-toe with Premier League rivals in the race to sign a top Serie A playmaker this summer.

Elsewhere, Ibrahima Konate’s stance on signing a new contract at Anfield has angered Liverpool, who’ve just launched a countermeasure.

And finally, Liverpool are prepared to green-light surgery for new signing Jeremy Jacquet, sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk, and with a down-on-his-luck Slot cursing the disappointing news that the Frenchman has suffered an injury.