Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been enquiring with former teammates about what it’s like to play in Spain.
Salah’s future has been in the spotlight of late, with Liverpool looking unlikely to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Without top-level European football to compete in, there have been suggestions that Mo may look to leave Anfield.
And replying to messages on Twitter yesterday, French journalist Santi Aouna reported that Salah is indeed ‘open’ to moving on. After six years at Liverpool, Aouna claims that the Egyptian has been asking around about playing in La Liga.
“Salah loves Liverpool but is open to leaving the Reds,” writes the journalist. “He even inquired with some former teammates who now play in La Liga…”
Should Liverpool pick themselves up and finish in the Premier League’s top four, expect this story to go away. But if they don’t, which looks likely right now, we might not have heard the last of it.
Mo misses the boat to Spain
If Salah were really looking to leave Liverpool, then last summer would have been the time to do it. Due a new deal, he could have bagged himself a bumper one in the manner that Sadio Mane did at Bayern Munich.
Instead though, Mo made sure that he stayed at the club where he’s become a superstar. Having signed the biggest contract in Liverpool history last summer, it would seem strange to want out a year later.
With two years still to run on his deal, the fee to get him out of Anfield would have to be enormous. Certainly, far more than the £34m Liverpool paid for him. On top of that, Salah is likely going to want his massive salary at Liverpool matched.
As a result, it just doesn’t seem feasible for a soon-to-be 31-year-old. The chance to make that move to a Real Madrid or a Barcelona appears to have passed. With the Reds out of the Champions League that may disappoint Mo. But he hasn’t been blameless in allowing it to happen.
Form has returned over the last six weeks or so, but by and large it’s been a poor season from Salah.
With Mane departed, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota injured and Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo settling in, Mo largely hasn’t been the figure-head we needed him to be. But there’s still time to turn it around. If Salah wants Champions League football next season, it will have to be with Liverpool. He can still make that happen.