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Topics: Football, Transfers, Premier League, Liverpool, Mohamed Salah
Chris Byfield
Topics: Football, Transfers, Premier League, Liverpool, Mohamed Salah
Jurgen Klopp urged Fifa to look into Saudi Arabia’s transfer window regulations before news emerged of the Saudi Pro League's interest in Mo Salah.
On Thursday it emerged that Saudi Pro League outfit Al Ittihad had reignited their interest in Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
While the likes of Sportzone claimed Al-Ittihad and Salah have reached an agreement on a three year deal worth some £189million, The Athletic's David Ornstein claimed it is unclear at this stage if a deal for the 31-year-old will materialise.
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Indeed, Salah’s agent dismissed reports in early August linking the Egypt international with a move to Saudi Arabia.
Ramy Abbas, Salah's representative, tweeted on August 7 following speculation: “If we considered leaving LFC this year, we wouldn’t have renewed the contract last summer. Mohamed remains committed to LFC.”
Salah only signed a bumper new three-year contract last summer, which made him the highest-paid player in Liverpool's history on around £350,000 per week.
Indeed, even before reports emerged linking Salah with a Saudi move, Liverpool boss Klopp urged FIFA to look into the Gulf state's transfer window closing almost three weeks after Europe’s.
The German stressed his concern that European leagues will lose more players without being able to replace them.
While the Premier League’s transfer window closes on September 1 along with most of Europe’s top leagues, Saudi Pro League clubs can sign players until September 20.
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On the matter Klopp said on August 2: “The influence of Saudi Arabia is massive at the moment.
“Pretty much the worst thing is that the transfer window in Saudi Arabia is open three weeks longer. If I am right, I heard something like that, then at least in Europe that’s not helpful.
“Uefa or Fifa must find solutions for that. It’s already influential for us but we will have to learn to deal with it.”
Liverpool have already seen two of their most experienced players move to Saudi Arabia this summer. Former captain Jordan Henderson completed a controversial transfer to Al Ettifaq for £12million while before Fabinho completed a £40m switch to Al Ittihad.