The relationship between Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp is obviously ‘strained’, but Liverpool can blame pesky Newcastle for the recent ‘fanciful speculation’.

Ask a simple question

No idea. Stupid Liverpool.

Mo money
The Salah saga promises to drag us through beyond the European summer transfer deadline on September 1 to the Saudi deadline of September 7 and beyond.

Thank you to Al-Ittihad for that one.

But our appreciation must also go to The Sun for taking us ‘inside the David Beckham-like offer’ that could tempt the Egyptian to the Middle East.

A lot of money, a lot of free air travel and a lot of future shares in a team, basically.

But Steve Brenner and Simon Rice need to be questioned over this line on Salah and Jurgen Klopp:

Absolute nonsense. Salah was certainly angry, much like any footballer might be if taken off at an important point in a close game they might back themselves to have helped decide, particularly if said footballer is very good at scoring goals.

But the idea Salah’s relationship with Klopp is ‘strained’ based solely on a player’s annoyance at being substituted is rubbish. They have worked together for more than six years, both signed new contracts in 2022 and have won pretty much everything with the immense help of the other.

As Klopp said after that game: “When I sub a player and he is jumping into my arms at 1-1 and he is a striker who thinks he will score, I would be really surprised so that’s absolutely fine.” Salah might yet leave for Saudi, but it will be nothing to do with any ‘strained’ relationship with a manager who is said to be ‘enraged’ at the prospect of losing him.

Mo problems
Mediawatch is particularly fascinated by the reaction of the Daily Mirror‘s David Maddock to the latest Salah updates.

Put it this way: he seems to have taken it personally.

‘Mohamed Salah is not for sale – despite fanciful speculation of a “massive” Saudi bid,’ the Northern football correspondent begins, even though the world’s best and most high-profile Arab athlete being tempted by infinite riches to play in the Middle East hardly seems unrealistic.

Maddock then refers scoffingly only to ‘reports from the Middle East’ speculating on Salah, as if to further undermine such ludicrous gossip; what a shame David Ornstein of The Athletic, unparalleled in terms of reliability on such matters, has said Al-Ittihad have ‘concrete interest’.

Not yet satisfied, Maddock then details how these reports say Al-Ittihad ‘would be prepared to pay a near £100m transfer fee’ to Liverpool and ‘a salary of almost £200m’ to Salah, before mocking and scoffing at how such reports ‘conveniently ignore the fact that Salah still has two years left on his contract AND there is only one week left in the current transfer window to find any replacement’.

The fact Al-Ittihad are supposedly willing to pay £100m for a 31-year-old suggests quite the opposite; if they were to ‘conveniently ignore’ Salah’s contract situation then they’d try and get him for free.

And as for the lack of time it would leave Liverpool to replace Salah, they’ve already made the best midfield signing of the transfer window. Might as well try it up front, too.

If the mountain won’t come to Mohamed
‘Mohamed Salah: Liverpool star ‘agrees £191m Saudi Arabia move’ but there is a catch,’ is one preposterous headline in the London Evening Standard.

The ‘catch’? That Liverpool themselves have not agreed to it and do not intend to. A real snag, that one.

That’s Mo like it
‘Mohamed Salah transfer latest as Jurgen Klopp breaks silence on Liverpool future and Saudi Arabia rumours,’ is one ridiculous headline in the Liverpool Echo.

The stories properly emerged on Thursday afternoon and into the evening. Klopp addressed them as soon as he was asked publicly about the situation on Friday morning. There was no ‘silence’ to ‘break’.

Plenty Mo where that came from
‘The only way a move would happen is if the player, club and agent Ramy Abbas all gave the green light to Salah’s departure’ – Lewis Steele, Daily Mail.

That is indeed How A Transfer Works.

Mo Salah puts his hands on his hips during a Premier League match

Theory test
But this is no simple transfer. No, this is a Liverpool transfer. And when it comes to a Liverpool transfer, This Means More. Obviously.

Which is how we end up in tinfoil hat territory over at the Liverpool Echo with this utter madness:

Because this, as said, cannot simply be the Saudi champions, rich beyond all meaning and a vehicle for the country’s meticulous sportswashing program, wanting to sign the best and most high-profile Arab athlete in the entire world to be the face of the league itself. Nope. That just does not make sense.

There has to be a different explanation. Like Saudi-owned Newcastle wanting to disrupt Liverpool shortly before they play them in a Premier League game. Yep. That must be it. And a couple of fans on social media have said so, ergo: absolutely daft headline and story.

Saudi Arabia transfers: West Ham’s Kudus move hijacked, Salah latest and huge Laporte wage

The article Mo Salah latest: ‘Strained’ Klopp relationship and Newcastle to blame for ‘fanciful speculation’ appeared first on Football365.com.