There is a ‘done deal’ for Mohamed Salah amid Saudi rumors, and the club has made a decision on Thiago Alcântara’s future.
Liverpool 2.0, as Jürgen Klopp has dubbed it, is well and truly underway. The rise of Darwin Nez heralds a new era at Anfield, while the summer additions, led by Dominik Szoboszlai, have already had a significant impact.
However, the young squad contains a core of veterans, and the next question for Liverpool is how many of them will effectively straddle the ages, forming integral parts of two great Klopp sides. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, in particular, appear capable of doing so, despite the fact that both have contracts that expire in 2025.
Salah faces the additional complication of transfer interest from Saudi Arabia. It is no longer a closely guarded secret, but rather common knowledge, and everyone is bracing for more approaches in either January or the summer.
Thiago Alcântara, another experienced head in the side, was also linked with Saudi Arabia over the summer. The fact that he declined was interpreted as a sign of the role he would play at Liverpool this season, but injury has kept him out so far. His contract expires next summer, and the club is said to have made a decision.
Here’s Liverpool.com’s take on the latest transfer rumors swirling around the Reds. The latest on Salah comes first.
Thiago Alcântara is a Portuguese actor.
Thiago will be allowed to leave Liverpool at the end of the season on a free transfer. According to Football Insider, this is the case.
Klopp was keen to keep Thiago in the summer, but the Spaniard has now confirmed that he will not be seen until at least the new year. Injuries have plagued his time at the club, which he joined in 2020 from Bayern Munich.
He’ll be on the move again unless he makes a U-turn. Perhaps Saudi Arabia will renew their interest, while Barcelona has been linked with bringing him back to the club where he made his name 15 years ago (Sport).
The 2023 remake of an iconic LFC kit from the 1995/96 season features a crew-neck with a digital effect treatment layering green tones, described as green spark, poison green and pine green. It will be worn by the Reds on the road throughout the 2023/2024 campaign.
Liverpool.com says: Even if he wasn’t among the squad’s top earners, it would be hard to make the case for keeping Thiago beyond this season. He is simply not available often enough.
It’s obviously a shame that things never properly worked out. When he has got on an extended run, he has been excellent, and he has looked every inch the one-man-plan for how Liverpool can break down deep defenses that he was signed to be. But availability is among the most important traits in football.
Now Liverpool has such a strong midfield even without Thiago, there is no need to tolerate his fitness record. Klopp has game-changers who he can call on every week.
Mohamed Salah
In the summer, many Liverpool fans were in favor of selling Salah in 2024, cashing in as he entered the final year of his deal. Now, after the start he has made to the season, that is a far less popular stance.
Salah remains integral to Liverpool. Nevertheless, Football Insider claims that a summer move to Saudi Arabia is a ‘done deal’.
There is a ‘verbal agreement’ allegedly in place with Salah, with a deal in principle having been sketched out. Al-Ittihad was the side that pushed for his signature in the summer.
Liverpool.com says: There’s no denying that selling Salah in the summer would be great business on paper. Liverpool could easily more than treble its money, for a player who has done everything asked of him and then so much more over the course of his peak years.
But in reality, Salah shows no signs of slowing down. The ambitious move would be to keep him at the club for as long as possible, because he massively increases the chances of success.
It remains to be seen whether he has truly had his head turned. If he has, Liverpool could at least console itself with a huge pot of cash to put towards completing the rebuild. But ideally, there would be many more years of Salah at Anfield to come.
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