Liverpool and Roma Reportedly Near €40M Salah Compromise

After Julian Brandt signalled his preference to remain at Bayer Leverkusen late in Arpil, Liverpool quickly shifted their attention to Mohamed Salah, Roma’s 24-year-old winger, making the 19 goal man their top attacking target heading into the 2017 summer transfer window.

There has been some media talk of other targets over the past week as Liverpool and Roma both push for the best deal possible—with Liverpool knowing Roma need to sell and Roma knowing how badly Liverpool want Salah—but there was never any doubt which winger the Reds wanted.

They may very nearly have him now. First Egypt’s Yallakora, and now a journalist with ties to Roma at Corriere dello Sport, have claimed a deal for Salah is nearly done, with the two clubs settling on a €40M (£35M) base fee plus around €5M (£4M) in potential add-ons for the winger.

After an initial offer of (€32) £28M from Liverpool, and with Roma at first seeking around (€50M) £44M for Salah, the expectation for some time had been a compromise of around €40M. Liverpool, though, had hoped such a compromise would represent the maximum paid.

Now, if the reports out of Egypt and Italy are true—and there is at least a chance it’s information being put out by Salah’s people in the hopes of pushing through the deal and that the transfer isn’t actually quite done yet—it looks like Roma have gotten a little more out of the Reds.

It’s still a good deal for Liverpool based on Salah’s age, his return over the past three seasons in Italy, and how his talents would, on paper at least, fit into a potential front three with Sadio Mané to once side and Salah the other of false nine striker Roberto Firmino.