Graeme Souness exclusive: FSG will take 'sentiment' out of Mo Salah decision, Saudi money is 'ridiculous'

Former Liverpool player and manager Graeme Souness has spoken about the speculation linking Mohamed Salah with a move from Liverpool to Saudi Arabia.

Last week, it was reported that Saudi Professional League club Al Ittihad are seriously interested in buying Salah from Liverpool.

However, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has publicly stated that Salah is not for sale and as far as he’s concerned, the matter is closed.

Speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, Sky Bet's Real Football Number Ones judge Souness said: “He is contracted to Liverpool but the modern way is if a player digs his heels in then you have to bend to his wishes.

“I think in commercial terms of the football club, we'll be looking at it like this. If we sell him now, it’s over 100 million. A year from now, will the money still be on offer?”

He added: “So you factor in that the owners are hard-nosed American businessmen, they will be looking at the numbers as opposed to anything else.

“There'll be no sentiment attached to this decision.”

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Souness then stated that only Salah will know what he wants to do with his career.

He said: “But only Mo knows what he really wants to do. I'm sure it's very attractive to him. He'll go there and he’ll get you know, ridiculous amounts of money.

“He’ll be treated like a hero in Saudi Arabia, given that he's from Egypt, like no other player going out there and I put Cristiano Ronaldo in that. Because he's Egyptian I think he'd be welcomed like no one else.

“Difficult one, a difficult one for the player because he has been great for Liverpool and Liverpool have been great for him. As I said we are second-guessing but we'll have to wait and see.”

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Salah has so far scored once and assisted twice in three Premier League matches for Liverpool this season, the Reds will be back in action this weekend as they host Aston Villa at Anfield on Sunday.

Graeme Souness was speaking as one of the judges for Sky Bet’s Real Football Number Ones campaign, looking for the heroes who aren’t always on the pitch, but are constantly making a difference to the beautiful game.”