LONDON – Liverpool will nearly double Mohamed Salah’s wages as they look to close a deal for one of their prime summer transfer targets.
The Egypt international currently earns £50 000 (about R825 000) per week with AS Roma, but Liverpool have put together terms worth around £90 000 (about R1.48 million) per week in an offer to his agent Ramy Abbas to bring Salah back to the Premier League. He had an unsuccessful 13-month spell at Chelsea, which started in January 2014.
Liverpool have been in negotiations with Roma, who need to trim their squad to fit in with financial fair play parameters, and had a £28 million (R462.2 million) bid rejected on Thursday.
Roma are holding out for a fee closer to £40m (R660.3m), but discussions are continuing between Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s sporting director and Monchi, the Italian club’s renowned negotiator who made his reputation at Sevilla.
Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, will back manager Jurgen Klopp this summer, and it is likely their outlay will be greater than anything the club has spent before as they look to consolidate last season’s progress and ensure they are prepared for a potential Champions League campaign.
Salah was a target for Brendan Rodgers three years ago when he was in charge of Liverpool, but the forward ended up moving to Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool have already signed Dominic Solanke from Chelsea after the England Under-21 international ran his contract down, and they are now concentrating on major targets such as Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita, the RB Leipzig midfielder.