Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund spells out conditions for Mo Salah deal

Liverpool’s season has been thrown into disarray.

Mohamed Salah’s comments following the 3-3 Premier League draw against Leeds United at Elland Road have caused no end of controversy.

Having stated that his relationship with Arne Slot is non-existent - and claiming a figure within the club wanted him out - Salah was banished from the squad for the midweek assignment against Inter in the Champions League.

It’s not currently known whether the 33-year-old will find his way back into the squad for the weekend fixture at Brighton.

Salah's Liverpool days at an end

This is a distraction that Slot and Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes hardly needed.

The team is underperforming - sitting 10th in the league standings - and £450m worth of new signings haven’t been properly integrated.

A very public spat with the club’s most famous player crowns a miserable campaign thus far - and could lead to the Egyptian King’s exit sooner rather than later.

The two-time African footballer of the year jets off with his national team to Afcon next week and there is a very real prospect that he resumes his club career elsewhere in January.

Top Saudi clubs queue up for Salah

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is ready to conduct a deal for Salah in the winter window - with PIF owning 75 percent of the SPL’s biggest clubs.

Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad are all under control of PIF - but we must also be attentive to Al-Qadsiah - owned by Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas giant Aramco.

According to a PIF source speaking to Al Jazeera, the Public Investment Fund intends to conduct a loan deal in January for Salah or else buy the winger out of his Liverpol contract.

Salah is under contract until 2027 - earning £400k per week - meaning the Reds still have £30m to pay. The same source adds no talks have yet taken place with Salah but they are intending to do so when the time is right.

Would Liverpool get rid of Salah on a free?

It’s hard to see Liverpool accepting a loan deal or else one which sees them failing to earn a transfer fee. Surely part of the thinking behind Salah’s renewal was eliminating the possibility of him leaving for free.

If - at any time before 2027 - it looks like a parting of the ways seems inevitable then it makes sense for Hughes to ask for a transfer fee.

Given Salah’s profile and status in the game it would surely be a decent fee - although the addition of the player’s wages makes this an extremely expensive operation.

We know the SPL clubs can do massive deals - as they have done in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema - and there is no doubting their willingness to get Salah signed up.

With 18 months on the contract however any deal will be done on Liverpool’s terms - ensuring a return on a player signed for around £37m from Roma back in 2017.

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