One journalist has pointed to a significant incentive that a Saudi Pro League club could use to accelerate their push to sign Mo Salah next year.
As it stands, the Egyptian will be out of contract at Liverpool on 30 June 2025, prompting no shortage of speculation as to his immediate future.
In the summer of 2023, Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Ittihad lodged a £150m bid to try and lure him to the Middle East, but the Reds swiftly turned it down (BBC Sport).
Speaking on White and Jordan on talkSPORT on Monday, Ben Jacobs claimed that Al-Hilal are now in pole position to bring Salah to the Saudi Pro League, adding that Jorge Jesus’ side could try to sign the 32-year-old ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup next June.
The journalist outlined: “2025 is the target. Al Hilal is the club. The Saudi football federation will be taking FIFA up on this so-called exceptional window ahead of the Club World Cup, so they could in theory try and sign Salah between June 1 and 10, which means they’re looking at him for not just the Saudi Pro League but for the Club World Cup.”
He added: “Salah to Saudi remains on the cards and Al Hilal is the most likely destination with the Club World Cup in mind.”
From Al-Hilal’s perspective, there’s definitely a massive incentive to try and land Salah before the expanded Club World Cup next summer, with the Saudi outfit among the 32 participating teams.
The Egyptian has already won the tournament in its more traditional, smaller-scale guise with Liverpool in 2019, when the Reds beat Flamengo in the final in Qatar midway through the season in which they won the Premier League.
Every LFC fan will naturally be hoping that the forward will sign a new contract at Anfield long before the Riyadh club get anywhere close to enticing him to the Saudi Arabian capital in time for the global competition in the USA.
With all due respect to Al-Hilal, Salah is far likelier to win major trophies on Merseyside this season or next than he is to lift the Club World Cup with Jesus’ side, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to quit on Liverpool solely for the reason that Jacobs mentioned.
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