Saudi Arabia’s sports minister has downplayed the nation’s pursuit of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah prior to his recent contract renewal.
For nearly two years, there were strong connections between Salah and the Saudi Pro League, leading many to anticipate that the Egyptian striker might move to the Middle East this summer if Liverpool failed to meet his contract demands.
As recently as this month, reports indicated that Saudi officials remained optimistic about their chances of signing Salah, but those speculations were swiftly put to rest when the star player signed a new two-year deal with Liverpool.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, the sports minister of the affluent Gulf nation, acknowledged that Salah represents the type of talent the league aspires to attract, yet he minimized claims that they actively sought to negotiate a deal for the 32-year-old.
“He’s a superstar,” Al-Faisal stated to the press.
“He is an iconic Arab Muslim and embodies the identity we wish to promote in the Saudi league.”
“It was his decision to renew with Liverpool, but linking Saudi to him and everything…
I think from day one, they link Saudi to him. There wasn’t any discussions.
But it’s good to have that.
“Now you can see that any player who wants to renew their contract, [the media] are saying that they’re coming to Saudi and most of it, 90% of it, is not true.
But I think we have a strategy that we’re working on and everyone is saying that we’re just signing any players.
“While the Saudi Pro League earned international attention by signing ageing superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante, there has been an evident shift towards younger talents like Marcos Leonardo, Jhon Duran, Moussa Diaby, Mohamed Simakan and Angelo.
“If you see the last number of players that we signed or the club signed are mostly young players wanting to develop the league,” Al-Faisal added.
“It makes the league very competitive.
“I’m not sure if you’re following the league this year, but the competition is unbelievable in the top four clubs.”