Mo Salah has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League for some time, but an ambitious outfit has seemingly now muscled into the picture to try and entice the Liverpool forward out of European football.
The Egyptian’s future has been a topic of myriad discussion in recent months, with his current contract at Anfield expiring next June and little to no discernible progress on an extension to that deal being struck.
The prospect of the 32-year-old moving on from Merseyside is growing increasingly realistic, and he’s now being targeted as part of an eye-catching new project.
Salah wanted by San Diego FC
According to Graeme Bailey for TBR Football, Salah is being lined up as a prospective statement signing for San Diego FC – the newest franchise in Major League Soccer – ahead of their debut season in the division in 2025.
The £500m franchise is the most expensive in MLS history and is owned by British-Egyptian businessman Sir Mohamed Mansour, who’s reportedly ready to pay big bucks to lure the Liverpool star and Kevin De Bruyne to California next year.
The embryonic club have already laid down a marker of their ambitions by securing a deal for ex-Napoli winger Hirving Lozano, who’ll join from PSV Eindhoven in January.
San Diego would be a huge gamble for Salah
Could Salah snub the Saudi Pro League for the highly ambitious San Diego FC project next year?
The prospect of relocating his family to the sunny climes of California can’t be dismissed, with Steven Gerrard having made a similar move when he left Liverpool for LA Galaxy in 2015, and the overall standard of the MLS has grown massively in recent years thanks to the arrivals of marquee names such as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
However, it’d still represent quite a gamble for the Egyptian King to swap the Reds for a club who, for all the wealth at their disposal and the grandiosity of their ambitions, have yet to actually play a competitive match.
We don’t doubt that San Diego FC have the potential to shoot straight to the top of MLS and stay there, especially if Mansour assembles a high-quality squad, but the inescapable truth is that it’s a project that’s about to face into the unknown.
Based on the form he’s showing for Liverpool so far this season, Salah still has plenty to offer at the highest level in Europe, and Anfield chiefs should have no hesitation in keeping him here for a little while longer, rather than letting one of the club’s greatest-ever forwards slink out the back door on a free transfer in 2025.