Emile Heskey admits that Mohamed Salah appears destined to leave Liverpool in a £150m deal, but he feels a replacement may already have been lined up.
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Egyptian the subject of big-money offerReds rejected all approaches for nowSale expected to happen in 2024NOT FOR SALE!
The Reds were able to fend off interest shown in the Egyptian superstar from Al-Ittihad towards the end of the summer window, but the Saudi Arabian outfit remain keen and are expected to rekindle their interest at some stage in 2024.
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Former Reds striker Heskey – speaking on behalf of – told GOAL when asked if the chances of Salah seeing out his contract are now less than 50-50: “Probably! They are not going to go away. He is the biggest Muslim football player in the world. The biggest win for them would be to get the biggest Muslim football player in the world. They are trying to take over all sports – boxing goes there, the Formula One, UFC. Football is arguably one of the biggest in the world, and Salah one of the biggest Muslim stars, so I wasn’t surprised that they went after him. It was a huge offer and I expect them to keep coming and keep raising that bar. It’s not just for the duration of his contract, they are probably looking for him to be an ambassador for them for life. I don’t see them going away.”
ASKING PRICE
Salah will turn 32 next summer, while entering the final year of a deal at Anfield that is due to expire in 2025, and Heskey said when asked if £100m ($124m) could be enough to do a deal at that stage: “I think they will still stick to the 150 ($186m). I think that will be sat there. I don’t think it will be done in January, I don’t think Liverpool will want to disrupt and disturb what they have at this moment in time – they are pushing up there towards the top of the table. I don’t think they will disturb that, but I think they will push again – 100 percent because they will want Mo Salah.”
WHO’S NEXT?
If Liverpool were to raise big money for Salah, would they then look to bring in a ready-made superstar as his replacement – given how valuable that he has been to the cause down the years? Heskey responded to that poser by saying: “Very good question. I don’t think it’s in Liverpool’s ethos to do that. When it comes to their recruitment, I don’t think that is how they see things – they look at the full package and potential going forward. I don’t know if Jurgen would want to go and get a superstar with all of the stuff that comes with it. Would he really want to do that? I don’t think he would. They have probably already eyed up who could be the next Mo Salah."