Yeah apparently the Saudis are rumored to be making a 200M bid for him, which of course a decent portion will be incentives.

At that money…we gotta sell him. It would dramatically increase our budget for signing in January and next summer. I think we have the firepower up front to be ok this year without Mo.

Yeah, it'd be tough to say no to 200 million... but also I do think that sinks our season (at least in trying to get a top four spot). If we could take a deal with the agreement that he moves in the winter window, I think that'd be huge.

Also, I think we may see some of these massive contracts go unrealized down the road. There's been some instances of clubs over in there not following through on agreements, and players are left with almost no recourse as you're basically fighting the national government.

I think you wait for more money. He's easily the best Muslim player in the world, you gotta think they'd like to have them in their league for another 50m on top of the 200

Wavy Gravy is officially official.

Welkom to the Reds! 🤩🔴 pic.twitter.com/EQY717gsTX

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 1, 2023

Read an interesting tweet discussing how the Saudi bid for Salah was mostly just smoke and mirrors. They timed the deal and set it up in such a way that they never expected Liverpool to accept it. Maybe they didn't even want them to (though I don't think they would have complained if they had). But rather it was mostly done for PR/branding purposes. No one makes a bid for Mo Salah on deadline day and expects to see it actually succeed but they'll be back in January or next summer with a second bid if/when they are really interested.

Nothing to do with PR. Newcastle's owners are trying to destabilize Liverpool.

That may be an added bonus but I highly doubt that is the primary intent.

This is dumb, but I just realized that Alexis Mac Allister's brother who plays for Union SG is named Kevin Mac Allister. I guess his folks were Home Alone fans.

Jones in for Endo mean Mac Allister is back at the holding role. And Nuñez (rightfully) gets the start over Gakpo. Was hoping Gravenberch would make the bench, but I hope Bajcetic gets some minutes today

Gravy still waiting on a work permit?

That would be my guess.

What a hit from Szoboszlai! Couldn't have hit it any sweeter

Szo is so good.

Nunez inches from a hat trick but nada. Drilled the side post, hit the cross bar, and missed a header from Mo by a barely a foot off the left post.

And still up 3-0 at 65 minutes.

jeffk said:

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Gravy still waiting on a work permit?

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I think he just wasn't registers for the weekend.

Commentators said it's the start of a heat wave in the UK.

Catching up now. Really impressive performance all around. I know Villa isn't top class, but it's nice to out a game away so soundly.

Just got a chance to watch the full match today. Interesting tactical wrinkle we have introduced with TAA. Instead of him moving into the midfield like last season, he is sitting back as a CB while in possession. It gives him more space to operate than if he joined the midfield. Him and Matip were trading places all game. Matip even carried the ball up the wing on a few occasions.

I'm not sure if this is just a tactical move that we are using while Konate is injured or if we have changed the overall scheme, but it looks very promising...especially if the opponent is going to sit back and let TAA orchestrate. He was dropping dimes yesterday.

TAA rumored to be out for a couple weeks with hamstring issue from what's out in Twitter world, etc.

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2023/09/alexander-arnold-injury-extent-revealed-as-2-liverpool-players-withdraw-from-england/

Also rumored that he just didn't want to go play for Southgate.

Big interview with Hendo in the Athletic today. Posting over here to see what y'all think. Personally, he didn't come off well. Basically saying that Liverpool and Klopp didn't want him to return and that's why he took the SA contract. It wasn't about the money! Also says he's basically done enough advocacy and he's not a politician so he can't comment on policies and practices in SA. Really disappointing stuff.

Worth reading transcript here, which we felt was fairest way to present. We covered lot of ground, including the greyed out Al Ettifaq announcement video, the debate between religion and culture. As he says at the end, “people can make their own mind up.” https://t.co/cfsSf7vXFL

— Adam Crafton (@AdamCrafton_) September 5, 2023

Valid rumors

215M….Liverpool would have to take that

I can't post a link but he's a screen shot from the Liverpool Echo

I think we are going to hold on to him until January. It's kind of shaping up the way things went down with Coutinho. I think they turn down the 215 and wait for an offer in the winter window. If I'm Liverpool, that's what I am doing. Make them break the transfer record and sell him Jan 1 for 230+. The reinvest the money into a left footed attacker, a CDM, a CB, and a RB, in that order of priority. This will be different than the Coutinho funds bc it was glaringly obvious we needed a GK and a CB to turn our team around. Not sure these signings have the same effect but the business sense is to milk the offer for as much as you can and reinvest. My heart wants Mo to stay but I don't think we finish the season with him.

Now if we are toe-to-toe with City for the title, I think our stance changes and you wait until the summer. But it's sad to say that this is likely the last season Salah wears the Liverpool kit.

They aren't paying an exorbitant fee because Mo is an amazing player (which he clearly is). They are interested because Mo Salah is an icon in the Muslim world. He will still be an icon next year and the year after that. Everyone will make their money at some point. Liverpool will get paid, even with only 1 year left on his contract. If Mo wins a trophy this year, his Saudi Oil salary might double. No reason for anyone to sell/leave now.

AG@RICE said:

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They aren't paying an exorbitant fee because Mo is an amazing player (which he clearly is). They are interested because Mo Salah is an icon in the Muslim world. He will still be an icon next year and the year after that. Everyone will make their money at some point. Liverpool will get paid, even with only 1 year left on his contract. If Mo wins a trophy this year, his Saudi Oil salary might double. No reason for anyone to sell/leave now.

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The problem with waiting is that there's no certainty that KSA will continue this level of spending in the future. For clubs involved in these deals, I think getting paid now is probably a better choice than waiting. But along that same vein I wouldn't accept any "add-ons." Make it &200M cash up front and call it done. If KSA decides this experiment isn't viable anymore, you better believe that transfer add-on and player salary contracts won't be worth the paper they're printed on.

Agreed. No add-ons. Pay it all up front.

OR this is just the tip of the iceberg and they will pay waaaaaay more than we ever imagined.

Two weeks ago they were willing to pay a 100 million...now we are at 250. If we win the double they might pay a billion....

Y'all see Wijnaldum is joining Henderson, Gerrard, and co. at Al-Ettifaq?

Yep. Also. Not sure I saw it called out but we're hosting Leicester in League Cup in a few weeks

Mo has been involved in 37% of goals scored for LFC since he has been here. Cannot sell even at 200 mil.

I still don't think he goes anywhere. If this happens in July and we had time to find another winger, maybe. Sends a capitulation vibe especially with no more incomings. The difference with Coutinho is that he wanted out, faked injuries, etc. to get a move. Mo doesn't want to move now. Sure he'd go if we sold, but he's happy at LFC. I think he gives it at least this season. ***If we had 1 point from 4, I think there is a totally different feeling about all of this.***

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned either is that a part of a lot of the Saudi deals is that they include image rights. Not sure if the Saudi deal specifically includes them or not. Anyway, LFC doesn't have Mo's image rights he has them. Mo's image rights are worth tens/hundreds of millions. i.e. He'll get more "wages" in Saudi but he'll lose a lot of income from the use of his image so the pay difference is not a big a many think (it's still a ton of money). Wages are tax free over there too though. Think that's enough for him to stay in Liverpool with his young family, where he isn't harassed at every corner and give it all for one last season (at least).

Also, some whispers of investor meetings with Qatar. Not sure if any of that influences this at all. Just ready for Thursday to come and go.