Liverpool stay or Saudi move? Mo Salah tipped to take third transfer option

Robin Bairner

• 17 Dec 2025 06:45 CST
• 4 min read

Nieuws

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah set the transfer rumour mill alight when he claimed that he had been “thrown under a bus” by the Anfield club.

Salah was speaking after being left as a substitute for a third successive Premier League match by manager Arne Slot, who left him at home as the Reds travelled to Italy and then benched him again in the victory over Brighton.

The 33-year-old Egypt international has been linked, once again, with a move to Saudi Arabia in January, with a glut of clubs in the Pro League interested in the attacker.

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann, though, believes that Salah is far likelier to end up in Serie A, where he has previously played for both Roma and Fiorentina.

“If Salah doesn’t want to accept that he won’t play, and keeps talking about not having the backing of the manager, then he and the club need to find a solution. That solution may be that they go their separate ways,” he said in quotes relayed by Goal.

“I don’t think Salah wants to go to Saudi Arabia because he rejected an offer last year.

“There would be European clubs still interested in him. The top clubs in Spain, Germany and England may not want to sign him, but I can see him going back to Italy, maybe. That league is known to bring experienced players in and bring them back to their best. Inter Milan has signed similar players in recent years.

“I can’t see him joining Bayern Munich or the two Spanish giants. The top clubs in England don’t need his services either.”

Mo Salah to Saudi: Not an obvious move commercially

The prospect of Salah going to Saudi Arabia in January has also been played down by Dan Haddad, head of commercial strategy at Octagon, the sports marketing agency.

“To me, the options seem fairly limited,” he told The Athletic. “What his management would want to do is still to position him, rightly so, as one of the world’s elite footballers, someone who finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or a few months ago.

“Commercially and for his personal brand, you would presumably be looking at a selection of six or seven clubs within Europe. But the likelihood of that move, from a financial perspective, seems very low.

“I personally can’t see that Saudi would be an obvious move commercially right now. The upside would be how much money he earns from a football perspective, but it doesn’t quite seem the right time for that.”

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