Mo Salah has angered Jurgen Klopp with the Liverpool forward entertaining offers from Saudi Arabia this summer, according to reports.
The Reds have already suffered from Saudi interest in their players with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho already moving to the Middle East this summer.
Those departures led to them dipping back into the transfer market for Wataru Endo after already signing Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai earlier in the window.
And the last thing Liverpool need now is for another of their high-profile players to leave before the deadline, especially Salah, who was their top goalscorer last season with 33 goals in all competitions.
It seems extremely unlikely that Liverpool would sanction a deal for Salah this close to the transfer window but multiple reports are claiming that a transfer could be on.
Saudi Arabian publication Arriyadiyah claims that Al-Ittihad are ‘getting closer’ to landing Salah this summer and they are on their ‘way to an agreement’ with Liverpool for the Egypt international.
Liverpool had ‘initially closed the door to Salah’s transfer’ but the Reds ‘accepted informal discussions’ when the Saudi side recently returned because of the ‘large financial offer submitted’.
Salah had ‘wanted to complete his season’ with the Premier League outfit but Liverpool ‘opening of the door to negotiations made him consider the Saudi offer very seriously’.
Al-Ittihad are ‘racing against time to persuade Salah and Liverpool to accept the major deal’ before the Saudi transfer window closes on September 7.
And Italian website Sport Mediaset also claim Salah is close to joining Al-Ittihad, insisting that he is ‘one step away’ from leaving the Premier League club for Saudi.
The even go as far as saying that Salah ‘will team up’ with Karim Benzema at Al-Ittihad and the Egyptian is said to have ‘enraged’ Klopp by entertaining the offer.
Al-Ittihad are ready to pay €100m to persuade Liverpool to part with Salah and the 31-year-old has now ‘opened up to the possibility of a farewell’.
He has ‘given the green light to Al Ittihad to contact the English club with an official proposal’ and that has greatly irritated’ Klopp as Liverpool ‘must hurry to find an alternative’.
Sport Mediaset add that Klopp has identified PSV Eindhoven’s Johan Bakayoko as the player they want if Salah leaves this summer as the 20-year-old is the right ‘profile’ of player.
Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy claim that Salah will earn €200m over three years if he completes a move to Al-Ittihad as they line up their €100m offer, which means the Saudi side could spend €300m (£257m) on the Salah package.