Mohamed Salah finally eased minds this month after penning a new deal at Liverpool.

It was news that ended one of the most stressful and uncomfortable contract sagas that the club have experienced in recent times.

At 32 years of age, Mohamed Salah is still in peak physical condition and still has so much to offer the game at the highest level.

As the months dragged on and Salah’s future became more uncertain, clubs began to circle, pondering the idea of tempting the Egyptian winger to join their ranks.

'His decision': Saudi Arabia minister now shares if talks ever took place with Mohamed Salah	Mohamed Salah Liverpool transfer truth emerges as Saudi Arabian sports minister breaks silence	Saudi minister: Salah suits us but we had no talks

Clubs from the Saudi Pro League were particularly interested.

Al-Hilal offered a staggering £150million yearly salary to convince Liverpool’s star man to leave, but Salah opted for loyalty over lucre.

For the time being, Salah will not be joining the likes of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to a league that has attracted some of football’s biggest stars over the last couple of years.

When the Saudi Pro League started making their mark on European football, they were attracting ageing stars and that raised the question that the players are going there simply for the money, and not for the football.

The country’s minister of sport, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, has insisted that the league are trying to change that narrative.

He insists that interest in Mohamed Salah has not decreased, but they are prioritising the signings of young stars.

“I mean he’s a superstar.

He fits the identity of playing in the Saudi league.”

“Now you can see that any player wants to renew their contract or sign, they [the media] are saying that they’re coming to Saudi and 90% of it is not true.”

“But I think we have a strategy that we’re working on and everyone is saying that we’re just signing any players.”

“If you see the last number of players that we signed or the club signed are mostly young players wanting to develop the league.”

Al-Faisal also went on to reveal that despite all the rumours circling tht connected Salah and the SPL together, the league had not held talks with Salah to sign.

“It was his decision to renew with, but lnking Saudi to him and everything… I think from day one they link Saudi to him.

But it is good to have that.”

Mohamed Salah will be a Liverpool player until the summer of 2027 now, and it remains to be seen whether Saudi Arabia could tempt him away from Merseyside.

He could follow in the footsteps of fellow Liverpool teammates like Jordan Henderson, Giorginio Wijnaldum, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho.

An ideal place to see out your footballing career.

Less pressure, but a lot more money.

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