Liverpool are prepared to pay a British transfer record to bring Vinicius Junior to Anfield from Real Madrid in the summer transfer window, according to reports. The Reds are preparing for a summer of change with Jurgen Klopp announcing earlier this year that he will be leaving Anfield at the end of the season to take a break from football….CONTINUE READING
That has sparked rumours that big-name players like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold could follow the German manager out of the door.
Liverpool received a £150m offer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad last summer for Salah with reports they were even prepared to go up to £200m for the Egpyt international.
It is likely that a top Saudi club will try again for Salah in the next transfer window
with Saudi Pro League director of football Michael Emenalo admitting that the league “would be incredibly delighted” to have the Liverpool forward in the Middle East.
“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,” Emenalo toldSky Sports.
“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.
“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.”
Any sale of Salah would give Liverpool the money to spend big on other players this summer and Spanish publication Nacional insists that Liverpool have ‘reached’ €200m (£172m) for Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior.
If Liverpool were to spend that amount on Vinicius then it would eclipse the British-record fee of £106.8m which Chelsea spent on bringing Enzo Fernandez to Stamford Bridge.
There are doubts over Vinicius’ future at Real Madrid because of the imminent arrival of Kylian Mbappe in the summer with both players preferring to play out on the left-hand side.
Mbappe could be asked to play more centrally ‘but if this experiment does not work, Vinícius could consider looking for a new team’.
As well as Liverpool, the report adds that Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea are also ‘willing to offer 200 million euros for his services’.
