Liverpool transfer news: There’s a ‘done deal’ for Mohamed Salah amid Saudi rumors, while the club has made up its mind on the future of Thiago Alcântara. 

Liverpool transfer news: There’s a ‘done deal’ for Mohamed Salah amid Saudi rumors, while the club has made up its mind on the future of Thiago Alcântara.

Liverpool 2.0, as Jürgen Klopp has christened it, is in full swing. The increasing prominence of Darwin Núñez is a harbinger of a new era at Anfield, while the summer additions — led by Dominik Szoboszlai — have already made a huge impact.

 

But there is a core of veterans within the young squad, and the next question for Liverpool is how many of them will effectively straddle the ages, forming integral parts of two great Klopp sides. In particular, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk look capable of doing so, although both currently have contracts which expire in 2025.

 

For Salah, there is the added complication of transfer interest from Saudi Arabia. It has long since progressed beyond an open secret to simply common knowledge, and everyone is braced for further approaches either in January or the summer.

 

Another experienced head in the side, Thiago Alcântara, was also linked with Saudi Arabia in the summer. That he turned it down was taken as a sign of the role he would play at Liverpool this season, but so far injury has kept him sidelined throughout the campaign. His deal is up next summer, and the club has reportedly made a decision.

Here is the Liverpool.com verdict on the transfer gossip to emerge around the Reds today. First up, it’s the latest on Salah.

 

Thiago Alcântara

Thiago will be allowed to leave Liverpool on a free transfer at the end of the season. That’s according to Football Insider.

Klopp was keen to keep Thiago in the summer, but recently confirmed that the Spaniard will not be seen until at least the new year. Injuries have dogged his time at the club, which he joined from Bayern Munich in 2020.

 

Barring a U-turn, he will be on the move again. Perhaps Saudi Arabia could rekindle interest, while Barcelona has also been linked with bringing him back to the club where he first made his name, 15 years after his debut (Sport). The 2023 remake of an iconic LFC kit from the 1995/96 season features a crew-neck with a digital effect treatment layering green tones, described as green spark, poison green and pine green. It will be worn by the Reds on the road throughout the 2023/2024 campaign.

Even if he wasn’t among the squad’s top earners, it would be hard to make the case for keeping Thiago beyond this season. He is simply not available often enough.

 

It’s obviously a shame that things never properly worked out. When he has got on an extended run, he has been excellent, and he has looked every inch the one-man-plan for how Liverpool can break down deep defenses that he was signed to be. But availability is among the most important traits in football.

 

Now Liverpool has such a strong midfield even without Thiago, there is no need to tolerate his fitness record. Klopp has game-changers who he can call on every week.

 

Mohamed Salah

In the summer, many Liverpool fans were in favor of selling Salah in 2024, cashing in as he entered the final year of his deal. Now, after the start he has made to the season, that is a far less popular stance.

Salah remains integral to Liverpool. Nevertheless, Football Insider claims that a summer move to Saudi Arabia is a ‘done deal’.

 

There is a ‘verbal agreement’ allegedly in place with Salah, with a deal in principle having been sketched out. Al-Ittihad was the side that pushed for his signature in the summer. There’s no denying that selling Salah in the summer would be great business on paper. Liverpool could easily more than treble its money, for a player who has done everything asked of him and then so much more over the course of his peak years.

 

But in reality, Salah shows no signs of slowing down. The ambitious move would be to keep him at the club for as long as possible, because he massively increases the chances of success.

 

It remains to be seen whether he has truly had his head turned. If he has, Liverpool could at least console itself with a huge pot of cash to put towards completing the rebuild. But ideally, there would be many more years of Salah at Anfield to come.