Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has claimed that Mohamed Salah wants to stay at the club despite interest from Saudi Arabia.
On deadline day, the Egyptian attacker was reportedly the target of a £150 million deal from Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad, but the Reds quickly turned down the nine-figure offer.
Clubs in Saudi Arabia can still sign new players until this Thursday, and it is claimed that Al-Ittihad would attempt again with a world-record £200m offer for Salah, who could also become the world’s highest-paid player with a weekly £1.5m wage packet.
With the 31-year-old’s contract at Anfield expiring in 2025, Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group would almost certainly consider such an unusual bid, but head coach Jurgen Klopp remains adamant about keeping the attacker.
Furthermore, Salah’s agent has confirmed on multiple occasions that his client is happy on Merseyside, and Szoboszlai has sought to assuage Liverpool fans’ fears, having been assured by Salah himself that he wants to stay with the Reds for a little while longer.
“We are really happy that he stayed. We were, of course, speaking between each other but he wants to stay, he wants to be here, he wants to be with us”, Szoboszlai told talkSPORT.
“He stayed and we are really happy, a great player, a great person… we need some guys in the team like him, so we are happy.”
Szoboszlai and Salah both scored in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, with the former opening the scoring with a precise strike into the bottom corner following a Trent Alexander-Arnold set-piece.
Liverpool took a two-goal lead before halftime thanks to a Matty Cash own goal, and Salah completed the onslaught with a close-range finish after Darwin Nunez flicked a corner into his path.
Mohamed Salah is the first player to score or assist in 10 consecutive appearances in the Premier League since Mohamed Salah between August-December 2021 (15 games in a row).
Salah has now scored or assisted in each of his previous ten Premier League outings for Liverpool, and Klopp praised Salah for putting speculation about his future on hold.
Klopp said: “I didn’t realise a little bit of a distraction in the whole week, besides answering questions about it – not from people inside (the club) but people outside.
“I have no clue, nobody came to me and told me something could happen or whatever. I’m pretty sure I would have got a call but I didn’t.
“And Mo didn’t look for a second like he thought about anything else other than about Aston Villa, being involved in all the goals. He has unbelievable numbers but it’s not a surprise that he has the numbers.
“And he had chances on top of that and (is) involved in creating and setting up and all these kind of things. He’s a world-class player, no doubt about that and I’m really pleased he is in my team.”
Salah has scored 188 goals and assisted 81 more in 309 games for Liverpool since joining Klopp’s side in 2017.
However, Klopp is reportedly afraid of losing the Egypt international to a lucrative Saudi transfer next year.
