Saudi club makes world-record bid for Salah
A Saudi Pro League side has approached Mohamed Salah with a mammoth salary package said to be worth about €150 million per year.
The move would test Liverpool’s resolve and reignite debate over the financial muscle reshaping the global game.
If completed, the deal would place Salah at the very top of football’s earners.
Record-breaking proposal
According to TBR Football, the unnamed Saudi club is targeting a summer move, part of the league’s ongoing drive to sign marquee European stars. The report says the offer would take effect next season and smash previous terms discussed for the Egyptian forward.
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Salah has been repeatedly courted by Saudi teams since 2023, when interest first intensified.
The latest approach again positions the 32-year-old as a centrepiece in the country’s strategy to raise the league’s profile globally.
Neither Liverpool nor Salah’s representatives have issued an official response to the reported package, which would eclipse most elite European salaries by a wide margin.
Liverpool’s stance
Liverpool turned down a substantial bid from Al-Ittihad in 2023 and briefed at the time that Salah was “not for sale.”
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That position reflected his status as a cornerstone of the club’s plans and a consistent source of goals and assists.
Former manager Jürgen Klopp often highlighted Salah’s professionalism and value to the squad, underlining how any exit would be a seismic decision for both player and club.
Salah remains under contract until 2026, and his performances this season continue to underpin Liverpool’s ambitions on multiple fronts.
How it stacks up
Cristiano Ronaldo’s current gross base salary at Al Nassr is estimated at about €208.4 million per year, placing him atop the global earnings table among active footballers.
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A €150 million annual package for Salah would sit just below that figure but still far beyond most European wages.
Lionel Messi’s guaranteed compensation at Inter Miami is about $20.4 million for the 2024 season, not counting commercial arrangements with partners like Apple or Adidas, illustrating the gulf between MLS pay structures and Saudi offers.
For Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid’s deal includes an annual salary reported between €15 million and €20 million plus a €125 million signing bonus spread over five years and significant image rights, lucrative, but still well short of Saudi base salaries.
Neymar’s 2023 switch to Al Hilal was reported in Brazil as totaling around €320 million over two years including salary, signing and commercial agreements, further underlining the SPL’s readiness to pay at levels Europe rarely matches.
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Market trajectory
Ronaldo’s Saudi move and later contract extension helped open the door for a wave of elite arrivals, with the Portuguese star maintaining record-breaking overall earnings during his stint.
That landscape frames any potential Salah decision within a market transformed by sovereign-backed investment.
In Europe, even the top earners at clubs like Real Madrid operate on markedly different structures: lower fixed salaries counterbalanced by signing bonuses, performance incentives and image-rights splits. Mbappé’s package is a prime example of that model.
All eyes now turn to Anfield and Salah’s camp for any sign of movement.
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Until formal bids and approvals surface, Liverpool retain control through 2026, but the scale of the money on offer ensures speculation will persist.
Whether Salah chooses to extend his legacy in Europe or accept one of the richest contracts in sport will shape not only Liverpool’s near-term plans but also the contours of an evolving global transfer economy.
Sources: TBR Football; Reuters; Associated Press; The Guardian; ge.globo; Capology
