Mo Salah jokes at ‘leaving’ Liverpool ‘for the money’ as Gary Lineker reveals all on star’s Saudi transfer hint

Gary Lineker has spilled the beans about Mo Salah’s wicked sense of humour after revealing the star has joked about leaving Liverpool “for the money” amid ongoing speculation of a move to Saudi Arabia.

The Reds superstar is still no nearer to resolving his future at Anfield despite his contract now only having an alarming 137 days left to run. At that point, Liverpool will be powerless to prevent their talismanic star from exiting as a free agent and taking his extraordinary goalscoring talents elsewhere.

There is little doubt that the potential exit of Salah – and ongoing contract talks to secure his future to Anfield – is an issue that has Reds supporters the world over-anxious about, particularly amid speculation that clubs in the Saudi Arabian Pro-League are ready to offer the player a salary beyond his wildest dreams and amid claims he is already in receipt of an offer worth £65m over two years.

However, if Liverpool fans are getting twitchy, that is far from the case from the player himself with the 32-year-old offering a relaxed stance over his future and joking with Match of the Day host Lineker that he could copy his career path and move overseas for one final payday.

“Lovely guy as well, I spent 10 minutes with him when I went to Anfield to interview Arne Slot, I had a good chat with him,” Lineker said of Salah on The Rest is Football podcast.

Sensing an opportunity, his co-host Alan Shearer then asked Lineker if he had managed to get the lowdown from Salah if he was staying or leaving Anfield this summer.

Lineker continued: “I didn’t, no… But he did ask me, he was just being funny, he was just kidding because the Liverpool press guy was there.

“He said to me, ‘So, how old were you when you finished?’, I said, ‘Well, English football I was 32, and then I went to play in Japan for a couple of years’.

“He went, ‘Oh, you went for the money did you?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, I suppose so’ and he went, ‘Yeah, might do the same!’

“He winked at the press guy that was there and it was just a joke but yeah, he was just joking but he has got that cheeky sense of humour has Mo.”

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Salah and Liverpool still in negotiations over new deal

While Salah’s comments were said with a large pinch of salt, there will be plenty who fear the 236-goal Reds star could well follow through with that threat given the strong and well-documented interest in his services.

Those rumours hit fever pitch recently when the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, shared a picture of Salah on his Facebook page of the Liverpool star in an Al-Hilal kit.

Our sources, though, have long since insisted that the star’s priority has always been on signing a new deal to remain at Anfield, though with Gary Neville having revealed his eye-watering demands, it may take some time yet before an agreement is reached.

Salah himself has not been backwards at coming forwards over informing the media of how those negotiations are going, stating late last year: “We are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club.

“I’m probably more out than in. You know I have been in the club for many years.

“There is no club like this. But in the end, it is not in my hands. As I said, it is December and I haven’t received anything yet about my future.

“I love the fans. The fans love me. In the end, it is not in my hands or the fans’ hands.”

News of Salah’s potential departure will also severely disappoint legendary former boss Klopp, who this week made it clear he hopes the player can agree a new deal, but also admitted he was glad not to be going through the stress of seeing if their star turn would hang around.

Quoted by multiple media sources, Klopp said: “I hope he stays.

“He’s the biggest striker Liverpool have had in modern times. There were other really good strikers. He’s a fantastic player, a fantastic human being, an outstanding athlete. The best ambassador your country could have. I hope he stays at Liverpool.”

Liverpool latest: Morton bid fails; worrying Trent update

Meanwhile, Liverpool have on Tuesday lunchtime confirmed the loan agreement with Sunderland for Jayden Danns, who has moved to Wearside for the remainder of the current season – but not before putting pen to paper on a new long-term deal at Anfield.

The Reds have also confirmed another young star – 21-year-old midfielder Dominic Corness – has moved to League Two Gillingham. However, it has also emerged that the Reds spurned an approach from another Championship side for Tyler Morton, with the promotion-chasing team unable to match FSG’s valuation of the England Under-21 international.

Elsewhere, a worrying update on the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold claims a move to Real Madrid is now “90% done” for the right-back, with light shed on those two failed bids from Los Blancos during the winter window.

The report has also revealed the two reasons why the player is so keen to move to the Bernabeu.

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