Mohamed Salah is leaving Liverpool at the end of this season, and the destination question is finally beginning to clear up. Al-Ittihad are the frontrunners to sign him, according to multiple reports, with the Saudi Pro League club ready to offer terms that would make him one of the highest-paid footballers in the world.
This has been coming for months. Salah's contract runs out in June and Liverpool accepted earlier in the season that renewing it wasn't going to happen. The club has been planning for life without him, which is its own remarkable sentence to type about a player who has scored over 230 goals for them.
Al-Nassr were also linked for a while — partly because of the obvious Ronaldo connection and the curiosity around whether two all-time greats could share a squad. But the smart money is on Al-Ittihad. They have the financial resources, they've been aggressive in the transfer market, and they've been tracking Salah seriously for some time.
Salah will turn 33 this summer. That's not old in the modern game — his numbers this season have been extraordinary, arguably his best campaign yet — but a move to Saudi Arabia makes sense from every angle. He'd be earning life-changing money, playing in a less physically demanding league, and extending his career well into his mid-thirties without the relentless pressure of English football taking its toll.
There have been whispers of interest from European clubs, but none have emerged with concrete offers. For a player of Salah's standing, the Saudi deal represents an opportunity that few footballers in history have been offered. It would be surprising if he turned it down.
Liverpool's Next Move
Arne Slot has already started planning around Salah's departure. Liverpool's recruitment team will have identified candidates to fill the void on the right wing, though replacing 20+ goals a season isn't a problem you solve with one signing. Expect them to go after at least two attacking reinforcements this summer.
What Salah Leaves Behind
The legacy is settled and doesn't need overstating. He's the best player ever to wear the Liverpool shirt in the Premier League era, and there isn't a close second. Whatever happens next in his career, that chapter is done — and it was one of the great individual stories in English football history.
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