Mo Salah now highly likely to stay at Liverpool next season amid altered Saudi stance – report

Despite a resurrection of reported interest from Saudi Arabia, Mo Salah now looks highly likely to remain at Liverpool for at least another season.

The Egyptian posted a tweet earlier this week which carried a strong hint that he wouldn’t be on the move this summer, and reports today suggest that Reds fans won’t have to worry about him swiftly following Jurgen Klopp out of Anfield.

According to Mike McGrath for The Telegraph, Saudi Pro League clubs are now willing to wait until next summer to pursue the winger, whose current contract expires in 13 months’ time. As things stand, he’s free to speak with prospective suitors from January onwards.

This news could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. While it now seems all but certain that Salah will remain at Liverpool for Arne Slot’s first season in charge, it may also suggest that Saudi clubs fancy their chances of snapping up for free next summer if they’re willing to wait until then.

The safety net for the Reds is that they still have several months to sort out his contract situation at Anfield so that he isn’t left at risk of being plucked away without the receipt of a transfer fee, having been the subject of an unsuccessful £150m offer from Al-Ittihad less than nine months ago.

While on the one hand he’ll be 33 by the time his current £350,000-per-week deal expires, he’s still a vital cog to this LFC team, having been top scorer yet again during the recently concluded campaign with 25 goals. Had it not been for the injury he suffered at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, he’d almost certainly have hit or exceeded 30.

Going by these reports, Liverpool now have the ideal opportunity to get cracking on extending Salah’s contract and making his Saudi suitors rue their apparent decision to wait out and try and sign him for free next summer.