Michael Emenalo, the Saudi Pro League’s director of football, believes that it would be hard to convince Mohamed Salah to join the competition in January.
The Saudi Pro League’s heavy spending was one of the key talking points from the summer transfer window this season, as several clubs from the country recruited some of the top names in European football with massive contracts.
And there could have been one other big name plying his trade in the kingdom had Liverpool not rejected a £150million offer from Al-Ittihad for Salah during the summer transfer window. The offer was understood to have been £100m up front, with a further £50m in add-ons.
Emenalo said in August that his league wants ‘all the top players’ and warned that more incredible spending was being planned. But now, speaking to Sky Sports, the former Chelsea technical director accepts his league will not make the first move to sign the Liverpool star.
He said: “Mo Salah, like [Lionel] Messi, [Karim] Benzema, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, these are players that, when there is a sense of availability for them, we are willing to listen.
“But we also understand that Mo is happy where he is at present and in a historic, wonderful club at Liverpool. We respect that very much and we don’t want to come across as putting any pressure on him.
“But if there is any interest to do something, Mo Salah is a player that you want in your league, in any league.”
Asked if he was ruling out a January move for Salah, Emenalo replied: “We respect Liverpool and in this scenario, the initiative to do anything won’t come from us.
“There has to be an aligned interest from all parties involved. It’s a very personal thing, as a player that I recruited [for Chelsea] and I like.
“There’s nothing I’m saying that is new or ground-breaking – that a player of this level of talent is available and your league wants him.
“If Mo Salah is available, has an interest to come and everything is aligned, I would be incredibly delighted.”
