Roma Play Coy on Mohammed Salah Liverpool Deal

Mohamed Salah is expected to become Liverpool’s first major signing of the summer shortly, likely within the week. Journalists with ties to the club think that it’s about to happen, as do reporters with connections in Egypt, and the Italian press certainly aren’t being shy about talking up the coming move.

Talk is, even—reliable and increasingly widespread talk—that a £35M fee, though that number could either be before or after add-ons, has been agreed between the sides and that personal terms between player and club are similarly sorted, with a contract between £90-100k per week expected. Not so fast, say Roma.

“There’s nothing in it at the moment,” Roma president Jim Pallotta said today, playing down talk of a Salah deal being imminent when pressed on the matter. “We continue to receive offers for many players and if we listen to all of them we would lose three quarters of the squad, so we will see what we do.”

There may be nothing in it in this particular moment, but it would be a shock if there wasn’t something in it very, very soon. In part because Roma are in danger of running afoul of Financial Fair Play regulations for the current financial period if they do not sell a player before the end of the month.

As motivated as Liverpool are to complete their big summer deals early, getting as many players as possible in before pre-season for the 2017-18 campaign, Roma are perhaps even more motivated to get at least one major deal done as sellers for the sake of balancing their books. And Salah is set to be that deal.

Meanwhile, in the Italian press today, reports claim that Roma have already lined up a replacement in Rachid Ghezzal, Lyon’s 24-year-old Algerian winger whose contract with his current club expires on July 1st and could be signed on a free transfer.