Arne Slot to turn down £100m for Mo Salah after Klopp row?

Have Liverpool already ‘accepted’ a £100m offer for Mo Salah? But Arne Slot has already made his feelings clear about the Egyptian…

 

Salah days
We are on Day Three of Mo Salah trending after his bust-up with Jurgen Klopp (no, they did not ‘come to blows’, Express monkeys) so the Liverpool Echo are going full pelt at the issue. Here’s their big headline:

£100m offer accepted, Arne Slot dilemma – Mohamed Salah Liverpool future verdict given

Now if you were not familiar with the football media, you might reasonably glean from that headline that Liverpool had accepted a £100m offer for Salah. If you were a little cynical, you might reasonably believe that a £100m offer had been made and that it should be accepted.

Fools. What has actually occurred here is that the Echo have asked all their writers to give their verdict on the Salah situation and they have extrapolated that into a headline that reads like news. Very clever.

Amusingly, the Echo’s main man Paul Gorst himself writes: ‘The prospect of a big-money move to Saudi Arabia seemed a more realistic prospect last year and is perhaps being overstated somewhat this time around.’

We agree, Paul. Have a word.

Is the appetite still there from Europe’s top stars to move to the Middle East after such an underwhelming season of low-grade football played in front of tiny crowds? That’s before we even assess whether or not Saudi Pro League clubs are still content to bankroll the chaos that the market became last summer.

Tut tut. Too sensible. That kind of rational, considered content will absolutely not do. What actual use are you to the Echo if you do not suggest that there will be a £100m offer accepted for Salah?

Thankfully this is Reach so there’s always a Senior Sport Central Audience Writer along any minute to claim otherwise. Phew. And just like that, a £100m offer is accepted. Magic.

 

The winner takes it all
Never mind the north London derby, Liverpool stories are never knowingly undersold by the Mirror so the big story on their football page on Monday morning is this:

“ONLY ONE WINNER!” Neville gives verdict on who’ll come out on top in Salah and Klopp row – but insists Kop manager’s decision will help unhappy forward

Except he didn’t give his verdict on who’ll come out on top in the Salah and Klopp row, did he? Because that would be ludicrous; there are only three games remaining of their season and then Klopp is leaving the club.

What Neville said was this: “I had that at Manchester United a few times. There’s only one winner, but the problem is that the manager is leaving which helps Mo Salah a little bit.”

So, in Neville’s experience at Manchester United – where he played under one manager – the winner was always Sir Alex Ferguson.

But this is an entirely different scenario, something which is detailed (not ‘insisted’) by Neville.

And where one leads, others always follow…

‘Gary Neville weighs in on Mohamed Salah incident with ‘only one winner’ from Liverpool spat’ – Liverpool.com. Nope.

‘Gary Neville insists ‘there’s only one winner’ after Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp touchline row’ – SportBible. Nope.

‘Gary Neville claims Mohamed Salah has hit a ‘BRICK WALL’ at Liverpool after his touchline spat with Jurgen Klopp… and insists ‘there will only be ONE winner’ from their fiery clash at Anfield – MailOnline.

At this point, we’re just amazed that Neville has not insisted that Mo Salah is sold for £100m.

 

Right in the Slot
Mediawatch is a) disgusted but b) tempted to stand up and applaud this from the Daily Star:

Arne Slot rejects Liverpool as Feyenoord boss names three Prem teams he loves to watch

Clearly, they are bargaining on those first four words bringing the clicks. And they absolutely did.

The ‘news’ is actually that ‘Incoming Liverpool boss Arne Slot failed to mention them when naming three Premier League sides he loves watching’.

Well it was May 2023 and a really quite sh*t Liverpool had just finished fifth.

 

Also right in the Slot
Almost a year later, Arne Slot is about to take over at Liverpool and he faces a very speedy decision on Mo Salah. Thankfully, SportBible absolutely know what he is about to do:

Arne Slot has already made his mind up on Mo Salah after Jurgen Klopp row

Quotes from Arne Slot? Are there bollocks. But what we do have are quotes from transfer expert Ben Jacobs, who said:

“Salah in particular, was he to be sold to Saudi Arabia, would generate – in likelihood – enough money for Liverpool to move quite aggressively in the summer market.

“But of course, Slot and many in the Liverpool hierarchy would also be extremely keen on keeping Salah.”

That’s that then. Silly to speculate further, because ‘incoming Liverpool manager Arne Slot has made his feelings extremely clear on Mohamed Salah’s future’.

FFS.

MAILBOX: Salah ‘should never play for Liverpool again’ after ‘disrespecting’ Klopp in a way Ronaldo wouldn’t