Saudis prepare world-record £215m offer for Mohamed Salah

Al Ittihad are prepared to bid up to a world-record £215m in a final attempt to sign Mohamed Salah before Thursday's transfer deadline.

Salah has been the subject of serious interest from the Saudi Pro League champions this summer, with the Arab world's biggest sporting superstar seen as a high-profile target for the league's backers.

Liverpool immediately rejected an offer worth up to £150m, including add-ons, for their record Premier League goalscorer last week, while Jurgen Klopp has insisted that his number 11 is not for sale and remains '100% committed' to Liverpool.

Despite the Reds standpoint on Salah – whose contract runs until 2025 – Al Ittihad are said to be preparing one final attempt to make a move happen before the Saudi transfer window closes on Thursday, 7 September.

READ MORE: When could Mohamed Salah actually leave Liverpool?

The Daily Mail reports that Al Ittihad are prepared to up their offer, while a 'Saudi delegation' arrived in London on Monday for a last push on the deal.

Last week the Athletic reported that Salah's head was turned by the proposed £1.5m a week salary package on offer, though the forward has never attempted to force his way out of Liverpool.

The i meanwhile claims that Al Ittihad are preparing to go as high as £215m, including various unspecified add-ons – a figure which, if accepted, could constitute a new world-record transfer fee, surpassing Neymar's £200m move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

The report suggests that Salah would want to 'hear out' Al Ittihad, while 90min claim that the Saudis 'firmly believe' that the forward wants to move.

However, the Liverpool Echo maintains that the Reds have 'no interest' in entertaining any late bids for Salah, despite claims that Al Ittihad had lined up a private jet to take the 31-year-old to Jeddah for a medical and quick completion of the deal as soon as the bid was accepted.

For Liverpool, the case is closed.

After the 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday – during which Salah scored Liverpool's third – Klopp said: “He didn’t tell me [he is staying], but he didn’t have to.

“He speaks with his training and performances and behaviour. We had meetings this week, and the meetings were not about what we did in the past, it was about what we will do in the future.

"Mo was with the players’ (leadership) committee and had his moments where he was talking and it was nothing like ‘by the way, this is only until next week’ or whatever.

“Mo doesn’t have to come into my office and tell me ‘by the way, boss (I’m not going)’. For me it wasn’t a subject for one second, to be honest, besides the questions (from the outside).”

Also speaking after the game, midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai suggested that Salah had informed the team of his decision to stay at Anfield.

"It is football, everyone is talking. We are really happy that he has stayed," Szoboszlai told reporters. "We are of course speaking between each other but he wants to stay, he wants to be here and be with us.

"We are really happy. We need people in the team like him."

For his part, Salah has remained tight-lipped on the situation publicly but got fans speculating with a social media post of himself celebrating after Sunday's victory.

The Egyptian has two years left to run on his £350k a week contract at Liverpool and while the Reds may be keen to resist a sale this summer – especially now that the deadline has passed to sign a replacement – interest in future windows may well be a different matter.