Barcelona president Joan Laporta has namechecked Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah when claiming that ‘top players want to join Barca.
Laporta said it’s ‘clear’ that players such as Salah and Robert Lewandowski want to join the club.
As transcribed by journalist Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Laporta told RAC1 that he ‘couldn’t say’ whether Barcelona were in discussions with Salah or Lewandowski.
Laporta said that he would be told he was ‘creating problems in the negotiations’ in his club if he did share such information.
An unwanted distraction
The inference here is that Barca believe that they can sign Salah from Liverpool. There have been previous reports that the Spanish giants will move for Mo if they can’t sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund (Mundo Deportivo).
It doesn’t look good for Liverpool fans to have a rival president talking so freely about one of your best players.
You can’t imagine Jurgen Klopp responding too kindly to these kind of comments with the crucial part of the season just around the corner.
With three months to go until the summer window is open, Liverpool still have plenty to play for. If Salah is negotiating with another club in the meantime, then he isn’t focussed on The Reds.
Even more worryingly, it could mean that Liverpool have allowed the 29-year-old to discuss a deal with another club. That would mean that The Reds are getting ready to lose him this summer.
Although in that case, Barca should be prepared to once again pay Liverpool an enormous transfer fee.
Still in Liverpool’s hands
It could of course also just be bluster from Barcelona’s president. Laporta is well known for trying to placate fans with big transfers and this could just be a tactic to get the fans on-side before the summer. But it’s clear that Salah is in Barca’s thoughts.
However, Mo’s preferred choice has previously been reported by Romano as being to stay at Liverpool.
The ball is in The Reds court to do everything they can to keep the Egyptian. As it stands, Liverpool could put all this talk to bed by coming back with an improved offer for Salah.
Losing the man who has scored 153 goals over less than five years would be a major blow and Liverpool simply can’t afford to happen.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
