Jurgen Klopp has dismissed talk that Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool for Saudi Arabia this summer, insisting there hasn’t been a bid and the player is not for sale anyway.
Rumours of Saudi interest in Salah gathered steam this week, with talk that Al Ittihad (Fabinho’s new club) want to make the Egyptian the highest-paid footballer in the world.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Newcastle this weekend, Klopp insisted that Salah remains ‘100% committed’ and ‘there is nothing’ in the transfer stories.
Klopp said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo: “It’s difficult to talk about media stories as there’s nothing to talk about from our point of view. Mo Salah is a Liverpool player. There’s nothing there. If there was something the answer would be no (he’s not for sale).
“My life philosophy is I think about a problem when I have it. At the moment, there’s nothing. I said already if there is something, the answer would be no. Is Mo still committed? 100%!”
Later in the press conference, Klopp addressed the rise in Saudi spending.
“It’s not cool for us, that’s clear,” he said. “If we want a player from Wigan, say, we go there and we pay the price. Same in Bundesliga etc. Now there’s a next level and it’s not great but this is part of the business. Not sure you can change that.”
Klopp also spoke out on the Saudi Pro League’s extended transfer deadline. While the window for European clubs closes on 1 September, Saudi clubs have until 20 September to complete deals.
“What makes it impossible to deal with is our transfer window closes and they stay open,” the Liverpool boss said. “Then we play until Jan and this is our squad, we have that problem. I remember something like this in Russia long time ago. That was not completely crazy money. It’s new and challenging. I am pretty sure FIFA could [change their deadline] like this (clicks fingers) but I am not sure they want to.”
