Saudi Arabia’s transfer market has closed. Mohamed Salah, who was linked with Al Ittihad until the end, will remain at Liverpool for now.메이저사이트
Global media ‘ESPN’ reported on the 8th (Korean time), “The Saudi transfer market is closed. Salah will remain in Liverpool for the time being. Al Ittihad spent 150 million pounds (approximately 249.9 billion won) to recruit Salah last week. “, but was rejected by Liverpool. It was later reported that they would offer a higher transfer fee at the end of the transfer market, but this was not realized. Liverpool have firmly said that Salah is a player who cannot be sold,” the report said.
Salah joined Liverpool ahead of the 2017-18 season. There was some suspicion at first. The reason is that Salah did not stand out on the Premier League (EPL) stage during his time at Chelsea. At the time, Salah left Basel (Switzerland) to join Chelsea, raising expectations, but he only scored 2 goals and 2 assists in 10 league games in the 2013-14 season and 0 goals in 3 games in the 2014-15 season. He was rarely given a chance for a player in his early 20s.
In the end, Salah left for another team to play more games. And after playing for Fiorentina and AS Roma, his potential exploded on the Italian Serie A stage. In the 2016-17 season, just before joining Liverpool, he scored 15 goals and 13 assists in 31 Serie A games while wearing the AS Roma uniform. Liverpool, impressed by Salah’s performance, succeeded in signing him.
Salah erased all question marks about him in his first season at Liverpool. He appeared in 36 PL games in his debut season and was the top scorer, scoring 32 goals and providing 11 assists. Although he has not shown the power of scoring more than 30 goals every season, he has established himself as a key attacking resource for Liverpool by consistently scoring around 20 goals in the league.
In particular, Salah formed a triangle with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, ushering in a new golden era for Liverpool. Liverpool, led by these players, won the UEFA Champions League (UCL) in the 2018-19 season. And in the 2019-20 season, Liverpool succeeded in bringing home the PL championship trophy that Liverpool fans had longed for. It was the first league championship in 30 years since the 1989-90 season and the first since the EPL was launched.
Salah continued to be a strong player in individual titles in the 2021-22 season. He played in 35 PL games, scoring 23 goals and providing 13 assists, ranking first in both scoring and assists. In terms of scoring, he was joint top scorer with Son Heung-min. He also received the honor of being the PL Goal of the Year. When it comes to scoring, no one can surpass Salah.
However, last summer, various speculations arose about Salah’s fate. In particular, with Mane, who was responsible for one of the pillars of Liverpool’s attack along with Salah, transferring to Bayern Munich, the possibility of the ‘wife line’ being disbanded arose. Liverpool couldn’t miss Salah. However, with only one year remaining on the existing contract, Liverpool attempted to renew the contract, but it took a long time to find an agreement.
Fortunately, after numerous rumors, I was able to continue my relationship with Liverpool. Liverpool officially announced ahead of last season: “We are delighted to announce that we have signed Salah on a new long-term contract.” With this, Salah ends his contract renewal saga and will remain with Liverpool until the summer of 2025.
Salah played his part as a key player for Liverpool last season as well. He appeared in all 38 league games, scoring 19 goals and providing 12 assists. However, his team’s performance was disappointing. The season ended in 5th place in the PL amid a series of injuries to midfield players. I will not be able to appear on the UCL stage this season. Instead, they participate in the UEFA Europa League.
Liverpool underwent a major rebuild ahead of this summer. A large number of midfielders including Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left the team. Additionally, Roberto Firmino, who formed a triangle with Salah and Mane, also transferred. Now, only Salah remains among Liverpool’s much-vaunted ‘wife line’.
A large number of new players joined. In particular, the midfield was completely transformed. Dominique Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Wataru Endo joined. The offensive line includes Cody Gakpo, Darwin Núñez, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota, who were recruited last season, working together once again. Since most of the players are young or inexperienced, Salah must become their leader.
In fact, Salah has started all 4 games as of this season and has scored 2 goals and 2 assists. In the opening match against Chelsea (1-1 draw), he assisted Dias’ first goal. And against Bournemouth, he scored a comeback goal in the 36th minute of the first half, leading the team to a 3-1 victory. Afterwards, he recorded one assist against Newcastle United and a goal against Aston Villa. He continues to show his presence by increasing attack points in every game.
Meanwhile, the possibility of going to Saudi Arabia arose. The team that wants Salah is Al Ittihad. Al Ittihad signed Salah’s former teammate Fabinho this summer. He also brought in Karim Benzema, who won the 2022 Ballon d’Or for his outstanding performance at Real Madrid. And N’Golo Kante, who was considered a world-class defensive midfielder at Chelsea, also joined. Al Ittihad planned to add Salah to the league’s top attack and midfield line.
Previously, the British ‘Guardian’ reported, “Liverpool declared that they cannot sell Salah, who is receiving interest from Al Ittihad. They have no intention of selling him this summer. Al Ittihad recently sold Fabinho, who played for Liverpool, for 40 million pounds (about 668 million pounds). “They signed him for (100 million won). They don’t stop there, they are ready to pay a large transfer fee to bring Salah.”
Al Jazeera, an Arabic media outlet, reported that “Salah has reached a personal agreement with Al Ittihad,” but also added, “However, Liverpool will not accept any offers for Salah.”
The overseas reaction was also dominated by the expectation that Liverpool would never sell Salah. Britain’s Sky Sports reported on the 25th of last month, “Al Ittihad is willing to pay more than 100 million pounds (about 165.5 billion won) to sign Salah. The Saudi Pro League transfer market closes on September 7. Salah “The way for him to go to Saudi Arabia this summer is if he strongly wants to move,” he claimed.
Nevertheless, Al Ittihad showed its intention not to give up. Global media ‘Optus Sports’ reported on the 7th, “Al Ittihad are still looking to sign Salah. They have already rejected several transfer offers. Nevertheless, they made an offer worth 215 million pounds (about 358.2 billion won) on Thursday. “It is expected that this will surpass Neymar’s record of 198 million pounds (approximately 329.9 billion won).”
However, ‘Sky Sports’ reported that Al Ittihad will send an additional offer to recruit Salah before the end of the Saudi Arabian transfer market. The current club leadership believes it is worth trying to recruit him one more time. However, some are insisting that we have to wait until next summer,” he said, explaining that even within Al Ittihad there are differing opinions on the attempt to recruit this summer. And in the end, the transfer window closed without incident this time.