Jurgen Klopp demands Saudi Pro League rule change amid Mo Salah links

Jurgen Klopp has doubled down on his demand for FIFA to engineer a Saudi Pro League rule change following on from Al Ittihad's reported attempts to sign Mo Salah.

Four key cogs in Klopp's Liverpool side which won the Champions League and Premier League have all moved to Saudi Arabia, with Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Sadio Mane all leaving European football for pastures new.

Salah has previously been linked with joining Fabinho, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante at champions Al Ittihad and on Thursday reports claimed that the club had reignited their interest.

Sportzone stated that the two parties have an agreement for a three-year deal, while the uber reliable David Ornstein of The Athletic has described the interest as "concrete".

Salah is seemingly the top target for the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and all eyes are on how the situation unfolds in the coming days.

In the past, Klopp had expressed his concerns over the fact that the transfer window in Saudi is open later than in Europe.

The final day for Premier League clubs to get deals done is September 1, while sides in Saudi have until September 20 to complete their business.

It means there is a situation where Salah could Al Ittihad after the Premier League deadline and Liverpool are unable to bring in a replacement.

And in response to the latest news, Klopp is again not happy with the predicament and compared to events a few years back in Russia.

Image: Getty

"I understand 100%, that is not comfortable and that it is not cool for us, but that is how it is," Klopp said in his pre-Newcastle presser, as per Liverpool Echo.

"But if we want a player from, I don't know, Wigan Athletic (for example), I go there and they tell us the price and we probably pay it. Probably, it depends a little bit but not just us, big clubs in football.

"The Bundesliga is like that if Bayern comes or Dortmund then Bielefeld or Mainz they cannot react but there is a next level now yes, definitely and it is not great.

"I think this is part of the business and I am not sure if you can change that or if someone will change that but what makes it from a specific moment makes it not possible to deal with is our transfer window closes and the other transfer window stays open, so if they do not stop now then how can we react? We have a squad together now for the season that we try to keep together until next week [after the transfer window shuts].

"From that moment we play until the first of January and this is our squad. That is what everyone is used to. And now we have that problem. We had it in the past with Russia if I remember right, it was a long time ago, thankfully, but they had a different transfer window and could still come [for players] but that was not completely crazy money."

Image: Getty

Saudi clubs have completely taken over the market, offering eye-watering wages and acquiring a plethora of household names.

But Klopp believes FIFA have the capacity to step in and make the necessary change to ensure a degree of fairness.

He added: "It is new, it's challenging for everybody and we have to learn to deal with it, that is what I would say.

"But the authorities should make clear that if you want to be part of the system then you do your business at the same time like all the others at least.

"If we cannot change the rest then let's change that. I am pretty sure FIFA could do it like this (clicks fingers). I am not sure they want to but they could."

Salah signed a three-year contract worth £350,000 per week last summer and his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, has stressed that he is happy on Merseyside.

Since joining from Roma for £34.3 million back in 2017, the Egyptian has scored 187 goals in 307 matches for Liverpool, winning Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Community Shield and the FIFA Club World Cup.