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Mohamed Salah to MLS? This move would drive Liverpool fans crazy
Tom Weber
- 26 Mar 2026 04:02 GMT
- 7 min read
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Mohamed Salah could stun Liverpool fans by joining City Football Group-owned New York City FC in Major League Soccer this summer.
The Egypt international dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he announced that this would be his final season with the Reds, despite signing a two-year contract extension in 2025.
Liverpool revealed that an agreement to part ways had been reached, with Salah essentially walking away from the final years of his lucrative deal. At the sime time, though, it means that the Anfield club will miss out on a sizeable transfer fee.
A Champions League and two-time Premier League winner, as well as Liverpool's third-most-prolific scorer, Salah has earned the right to leave the club on his own terms. Saudi Arabia is believed to be his most realistic next destination.
However, Salah is also expected to field interest from MLS this summer. Surprisingly, though, the usual suspects are not vying for his signature, at least not right now.
Salah to MLS: The state of play
Over the past year or so, Salah has primarily been linked with two MLS franchises: the Chicago Fire and 2025 expansion side San Diego FC. Before he signed his Liverpool extension, the Fire made an approach for him.
A year on, Gregg Berhalter and company are still trying to sign an international superstar, having also failed to attract Neymar, Kevin de Bruyne and, to date, Robert Lewandowski, although the latter could finally make the move this summer.
Salah, though, is seemingly no longer an option, according to The Athletic. He is also not a player being considered by San Diego, but these links were always more speculative than grounded in reality in the first place.
The connection between Salah and the SoCal side has been made because of the club's owner, British-Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour. However, this is not how San Diego operate, especially after the Hirving Lozano debacle.
San Diego made it clear from the jump that they would try to build something more long-term and sustainable instead of trying to lure ageing superstars to MLS. Lozano, the marquee signing of their expansion season, was the sole exception.
When he played, he was impactful, but the problem was that he barely played. San Diego made it clear ahead of the 2026 season that he had become surplus to requirements, but they failed to offload him in the winter and are now stuck paying his massive salary.
Surprisingly, the MLS franchise that could "make a play" for Salah is NYCFC. The Pigeons are in need of a clinical finisher - although Salah hasn't really been that this season - after bizarrely pulling out of a deal for Schalke 04 striker Moussa Sylla ahead of the 2026 season.
On paper, a deal makes sense. NYCFC haven't had a player of Salah's stature since the club's flashy early years, when they signed Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard and David Villa. They are also finally set to open their new stadium in Queens next year. The 33-year-old would put bums in seats.
In practice, though, NYCFC would have to shuffle their roster around to sign the veteran. None of their three current Designated Players can be bought down, according to MLS's roster profile, meaning that one would have to be offloaded this summer.
Alternatively, they could try to find a Thomas Muller-style solution, where Salah plays for six months on a reduced salary and then becomes a DP ahead of the 2027 "Sprint Season," likely replacing Thiago Martins, whose current DP deal expires at the end of the year.
Obviously, Salah joining a City Football Group club would be jarring for Liverpool supporters. After all, Man City have been the club's biggest challengers for silverware over the past 10 years. But it wouldn't be unprecedented.
The aforementioned Lampard famously and controversially joined Man City when he was originally announced as an NYCFC signing ahead of their debut season in 2015.
Initially thought to be a six-month loan to Man City to allow the Chelsea legend to stay fit, it later emerged that he had never officially signed for their MLS sister club and that he was contracted to the Cityzens. He did ultimately join NYCFC after a year in Manchester.
The Salah signing wouldn't be quite as contentious - he's not going to join Man City - but Liverpool fans would certainly feel weird cheering on their club icon if he were to suddenly start playing in sky blue.
Ultimately, though, NYCFC are one of the few MLS franchises with the necessary backing to be able to finance a deal for the Egyptian superstar. This is important as MLS Commissioner Don Garber has stated that the league won't aid the signing of Salah, unlike when Inter Miami acquired Lionel Messi.
"There is only one Messi," Garber told Ben Jacobs at the Business of Sport conference in Atlanta. "I am not sure the league needs to get involved in those kinds of deals going forward.
"Mo Salah is one of the great players in the history of the Premier League. I'd love to see him in our league. I couldn't say that until he announced he was leaving Liverpool. What a great player he would be in MLS, and I think we would provide him with a great platform."
NYCFC boss Brad Sims also spoke about Salah at the conference, saying: "I would love to have Mo Salah. We have not had any discussions with him or his people.
"What is most important is: does the player want to come to MLS and be in New York City? We are not going to go out and sell someone on New York, the league or our club. We want players who really want to be here.
"And the other thing about star players is you need to make good choices. You need the guys who are going to be the hardest trainers, good teammates and good for the locker room and the culture. We do a lot of due diligence, and not just on star players."
Ultimately, only time will tell where the 33-year-old will end up. According to his agent Ramy Abbas, Salah himself has no idea what he will do after leaving Liverpool.
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